中国工业设计之父柳冠中：全球化进程“换道超越”，从“造”走向“制”

This article summarizes key insights from a speech given by Guanzhong Liu, known as the father of Chinese industrial design, at the 2026 Global New Brand AI Competitiveness Conference. Centered on the "change lanes to surpass" strategy for Chinese design going global, Liu outlines clear core directions:

1. Core development logic: Abandon the traditional "overtake on a curve" approach of following others, and instead pursue the "change lanes to surpass" path that builds independent Chinese thinking. This approach requires identifying the essence and core goals of an issue before taking action.

2. Direction for individuals and industries in the AI era: Do not blindly worship digitalization and AI computing power. Human judgment, imagination, and aesthetic sense remain the irreplaceable core values in the AI age. Technology should serve human goals, not the other way around.

3. Core direction for future development: China will build a sharing-oriented society in the future, where all products and lifestyles will return to the core essence of "use". True innovation can only emerge when product development and lifestyle thinking are rooted in actual usage needs.

This speech provides clear strategic guidance for the global expansion of Chinese brands, with actionable insights for end-to-end brand operations:

1. Brand strategic direction: Instead of continuing to compete on old tracks set by Western countries, brands should pursue the "change lanes to surpass" path, build their own tracks, rules, and standards, export China's new products, new categories, and new industries to the world, and deliver brand-new solutions from Chinese brands.

2. Product R&D direction: Align product development with the consumer trend toward a sharing-oriented society, build products starting from users' actual usage needs, abandon the traditional logic that encourages excessive ownership, unlock new opportunities behind unmet usage needs, and create entirely new product concepts.

3. Building brand competitiveness in the AI era: A brand's irreplaceable premium does not come from AI computing power, but from the brand's own judgment, imagination, and aesthetic sense. Brands should let AI technology serve their core value orientation, highlight their human-centric values and social responsibility, and build differentiated core competitiveness.

This speech points out a new development direction for e-commerce sellers, especially cross-border sellers, with clear opportunity cues and risk warnings:

1. New growth opportunities: China's e-commerce and brand sectors are now in a strategic window for "changing lanes to surpass". The development of new quality productivity opens up entirely new growth spaces for sellers. Sellers can break away from rule paths set by overseas incumbents, build independent new categories and new brands around emerging demands, and secure long-term growth drivers.

2. Insights into shifting consumer demand: The global consumer trend will gradually shift toward a sharing-oriented society, where consumers increasingly focus on the actual use value of products rather than excessive ownership. Sellers can develop new products centered on usage needs and tap into untapped new markets.

3. Risk warnings: Sellers should avoid two common pitfalls. First, do not fall into path dependence: if you only manage manufacturing without controlling core standards and rules, you cannot achieve true surpassing even if you move production overseas. Second, do not blindly chase AI technology trends; clarify what technology should serve, maintain independent judgment, and avoid losing direction by letting technology lead your strategy.

Liu Guanzhong's speech outlines a clear direction for the transformation and upgrading of Chinese manufacturing facilities, with important insights for digital transformation and e-commerce integration:

1. Core direction for factory transformation: Most Chinese factories have historically only focused on production, while core links such as design and standards have relied heavily on imports, leaving the sector "large but not strong". To achieve true upgrading in the future, factories must build independent "creation" capabilities, develop their own design systems and production standards, and realize "changing lanes to surpass".

2. Product manufacturing and design direction: Future product development must return to the essence of user needs, align with the trend toward a sharing-oriented society, and abandon the old approach of overemphasizing appearance and encouraging overconsumption. Factories should develop products adapted to new lifestyles centered on users' emerging usage needs.

3. Insights for digital and e-commerce transformation: Digitalization and AI are just tools that serve manufacturers. Do not pursue digitalization for digitalization's sake; restructure production methods to meet the requirements of new quality productivity, seize the opportunity of e-commerce to build new brands and new categories, and achieve an upgrade from "manufacturing" to "creation".

This speech maps out development trends for the global upgrading of China's industries, identifies core customer pain points, and provides clear guidance for service providers to adjust their service directions:

1. Industry development trends: China's industries have transitioned from playing catch-up to keeping pace, and now stand at a new stage of "changing lanes to surpass". New quality productivity will drive a surge of new products, new categories, and new industries, leading to sustained growth in market demand for services including strategic design, value upgrading, and rule-building. The industry is entering a new period of growth opportunities.

2. Core customer pain points: Most customers today share two major pain points. First, they are trapped in old path dependence: they only manage production links without controlling core standards and rules, and cannot build independent competitiveness. Second, they blindly worship AI and digitalization, lose their own development direction, and cannot build irreplaceable premium capabilities.

3. Solution direction: Service providers should help customers build systematic thinking, guide them to start from the essential goals of development, capture the demand trend of a sharing-oriented society, help customers build independent design standards and product systems, and support customers in improving core capabilities including judgment, imagination, and aesthetic sense, so that technological tools serve customers' long-term development goals.

Liu Guanzhong's "change lanes to surpass" framework provides strategic guidance for the global development and operational upgrading of e-commerce platforms, and clarifies the future direction for the industry:

1. Core market demand for platforms: Chinese brands and sellers are no longer satisfied with growing under the old rules led by overseas players. They urgently need platform ecosystems that support Chinese brands in "changing lanes to surpass", and platform rules that support the development of independent standards, new categories, and new industries.

2. Platform operation and merchant recruitment direction: Platforms should seize the development opportunity of new quality productivity, adjust recruitment and operation rules, prioritize supporting new brands and new products developed around emerging demands and new usage patterns, build entirely new China-led tracks and standards, and pursue a differentiated development path.

3. Risk mitigation direction: Platforms should avoid the pitfalls of data-first and technology-first mindsets. Do not rely solely on AI and digitalization to drive the platform; instead, recognize the core value of human judgment and aesthetic sense, guide the platform ecosystem toward a correct value orientation, avoid the risk of old path dependence, drive ecosystem upgrading, and help Chinese brands export Chinese solutions to the world.

This speech proposes a new strategic logic for the global development of China's industries, outlines new core topics and directions for industrial research, and maps emerging trends and open questions in industrial development:

1. New industrial development trends: China's industrial design and manufacturing have completed two stages of development. The first was introduction and modification after reform and opening up; the second was systematic collaborative original design integrated into enterprises starting from the late 1990s. Today, the sector has entered a third stage: building independent rules and achieving "changing lanes to surpass", and a new trend of developing new quality productivity and building independent standards has already emerged domestically.

2. New industrial questions: The speech raises several core new questions for current industrial development, including how to break path dependence on Western-led old tracks, how to balance the development of new AI technologies with the core value of human capabilities, and how to explore a Chinese development model that aligns with global sustainable development requirements. All of these are new topics worthy of in-depth research.

3. Insights for research direction: Future research can focus on topics such as the industrial development path of "changing lanes to surpass", new design-driven business models, the development logic of the sharing economy, and the path for Chinese solutions to drive the healthy development of global industry, to provide theoretical support for China's industrial upgrading.