According to a white paper released by GE, the industrial Internet will play an important role in the new round of economic growth marked by higher efficiency, higher productivity and sustainable development.

The network has the potential to enable China's major industries - including aviation, power, railway, healthcare and oil and gas - to save about $24 billion in the next 15 years, if the technologies help these industries achieve just 1 percent improvement in efficiency, GE said.

With a strong business presence and a large customer base in China, GE brings both equipment advantages and software analytical capabilities to lay the foundation for the industrial Internet, said Immelt.

"GE will leverage its global R&D capabilities, business footprint and installed base to expand its current industrial Internet offerings to provide better services for Chinese customers and better integrate GE's software and analytics offerings for equipment with customers' operations and management ecosystems," he added.

He added that China is ready for the network because of its significant infrastructure and massive customer needs.

China already has a great number of intelligent machines installed due to its ongoing investments in new infrastructure and machinery upgrades.

The aim of GE's new center will be to help address China's needs by bringing high-performance software development and analytics to support application development for the industrial Internet, targeting productivity improvements and operational efficiencies for customers in industries including healthcare, aviation, energy and water, he said.

"Data analytics is the key to the success of the industrial Internet," said Bill Ruh, vice-president of GE's software and analytics center. "Only by cultivating local diagnostics and analytics talents can we better work with our local customers to capture industrial Internet opportunities in China."

The company is committed to expanding its software and analytical capabilities to help increase productivity and energy efficiency in major industries, he added.