Currently, China’s manufacturing digital transformation is entering a new phase of in-depth advancement. Breaking down "information silos" and achieving seamless data connectivity have become key priorities. In the field of industrial automation, data transmission between different devices and systems is analogous to communication between people from different countries—facing barriers of "language incompatibility". At this point, a universal industrial communication protocol is needed as a "bridge" for communication between devices, ensuring unobstructed data flow among equipment and systems. The IO-Link communication protocol is precisely this "international universal language" in the industrial automation sector.

However, for a long time, the core R&D and application of IO-Link technology have been monopolized by foreign manufacturers. It was not until 2023 that Nanjing Ruiyuan Industrial Internet Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ruiyuan"), a startup based in Nanjing, broke this monopoly through independent innovation in underlying industrial software. The company filled the gap in China’s IO-Link industrial communication field, continuously advancing the domestic substitution of IO-Link technology and related hardware, and injecting new vitality into the digital transformation of China’s manufacturing industry.

In 2023, China’s manufacturing industry entered an accelerated phase of transitioning from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing". Ji Shuhan, a graduate of the School of Economics and Management at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, had conducted research on manufacturing efficiency improvement and high-end manufacturing transformation during his doctoral studies. He recognized the irresistible trends of digital transformation and domestic substitution, and had long been seeking entrepreneurial opportunities aligned with his background. Meanwhile, Yuan Hua, a graduate of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics who had worked at leading communication enterprises such as Huawei and Alibaba, witnessed the rise of civil communication technology but realized that industrial communication technology was still stuck in a "bottleneck" phase  foreign dominance.

IO-Link is the only internationally universal communication protocol in the field of industrial automation sensors—the segment with the largest usage volume. However, there was no domestic solution for its core protocol stack. After recognizing the application prospects of this technology and the urgent need for its localization, the two individuals from different fields joined forces. Leveraging their professional knowledge and industry experience, they co-founded Ruiyuan Industrial, with the localization of IO-Link technology as their first entrepreneurial goal.

IO-Link technology originated in Europe in 2006, and mature products in the current market have formed established R&D paths and models. For a "latecomer" like Ruiyuan, how could it quickly enter the market and achieve independent innovation?

Ruiyuan chose to break free from the "inertial mindset shackles" of foreign technology. Focusing on the core attributes of IO-Link technology—versatility and universality—it reoriented its thinking around the actual functional needs of applications.

"The essence of IO-Link is an international standard for industrial communication protocols, and all its functions need to be implemented through code. We rebuilt the embedded architecture based on more universal MCU chips and developed the ‘Gu Shen’ (Grain God) and ‘Zhi Shen’ (Wisdom God) IO-Link protocol stacks," explained Ji Shuhan. These protocol stacks, which subverted the traditional technical path from the ground up, also gained advantages such as lower resource consumption, more streamlined code, and enhanced functionality.

Currently, the "Gu Shen" and "Zhi Shen" protocol stacks have helped Ruiyuan obtain certification from the international IO-Link Competence Center (ILCC). This makes Ruiyuan one of only nine ILCC-certified competence centers worldwide, marking a significant step forward for Chinese innovative enterprises in the field of industrial communication technology.

Notably, the "Gu Shen" and "Zhi Shen" IO-Link protocol stacks support protocol transplantation onto domestic chips, breaking the foreign manufacturers’ model of "binding system architecture to chip drivers". This shortens the development cycle from one month to just one day. "By reducing the cost for thousands of industrial sensor manufacturers to experiment with intelligent sensing, we can open up a broader market space and make ‘intelligent manufacturing’ a reality," said Ji Shuhan.

Since IO-Link connects the front-end sensors/controllers of equipment to control systems, it is regarded as the "last mile" technology in industrial automation.

In traditional data transmission, data needs to undergo analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion. In contrast, IO-Link communication empowers traditional sensors by unifying all conventional PNP/NPN, Modbus, and ASI analog sensors into IO-Link interfaces. This eliminates the need for data type conversion, ensuring no loss of signal accuracy, strong anti-interference capabilities, while maintaining compatibility. It also enables bidirectional communication and data exchange, improving sensor utilization. Furthermore, its circuit connection only requires a single standard cable, significantly reducing wiring complexity and maintenance costs. Therefore, IO-Link technology will significantly enhance the quality and quantity of data collected by traditional sensors, and drive a revolutionary intelligent transformation of traditional factories.

"Just as the accuracy of AI applications relies on massive data input, more accurate and comprehensive data is essential to truly realize the intelligence of production and manufacturing," Ji Shuhan noted. IO-Link can directly access the basic data of sensors, collect more and richer frontline data and process data, and quickly map this data to cloud databases. This allows the cloud to fully represent the perceptual data of the physical world, not only helping factories accumulate data assets but also enabling automated systems to better understand the actual application scenarios of the factory. In this process of manufacturing digital transformation, smart factories have become the target model and core front for the transformation of traditional factories.

In April last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that by 2025, over 70% of large-scale manufacturing enterprises should basically achieve digitalization and networking, and a number of intelligent manufacturing demonstration factories leading industrial development should be built.

From the perspective of the complete chain of smart factory construction, a large number of sensors form the bottom-level basic perception layer. Starting with sensors, Ruiyuan has used IO-Link as a key connector to build a "Y-shaped" connection system. It plans to collaborate with upstream and downstream partners, participate in automated factory design through data collection and application, and integrate AI algorithm iteration to create a full-chain solution—from sensors to big data, and finally to digital twin smart factories.

Currently, Ruiyuan adopts a business model that combines hardware and software. On the software side, Ruiyuan provides technology development services, conducting embedded development of communication protocols based on the hardware of downstream sensor and automation manufacturers. On the hardware side, Ruiyuan sells IO-Link master and slave station hardware modules. It plans to collaborate with upstream MCU chip manufacturers in the future, focusing on the discrete industry sensor market to develop integrated MCU+PHY chips. In terms of commercial implementation, since the team officially launched market expansion in June 2024, Ruiyuan has already served over 100 high-profile clients, including Wotian and Lingdian Automation.

"This year, we will continue to expand our market scale, aiming to cover 400 sensor clients and 100 industrial automation clients," said Ji Shuhan. By providing full-suite IO-Link technology solutions, Ruiyuan will enhance client stickiness in the IO-Link field. While continuously boosting the competitiveness of clients’ products, it will also expand its own technical "moat" and build unique competitive advantages.

As China’s first IO-Link protocol stack with complete independent intellectual property rights, the "Gu Shen" and "Zhi Shen" protocol stacks have helped Ruiyuan achieve outstanding results in numerous innovation and entrepreneurship competitions. In 2024, Ruiyuan won the Excellence Award in the "Win in Nanjing" Youth College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, receiving a total of 200,000 yuan in entrepreneurial funding support from the Nanjing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and the Nanjing Innovation Investment Group.

"Most domestic IO-Link-related enterprises focus on application-level development, matching existing IO-Link protocols and equipment with application scenarios. Ruiyuan’s biggest difference from other domestic enterprises lies in rewriting the underlying industrial software in accordance with international universal standards," said a relevant person in charge of the Future Industry Investment Department of the Nanjing Innovation Investment Group.

"Take the number of IO-Link master and slave stations as an example: foreign enterprises usually have one master station supporting 8 slave stations. However, in domestic factory settings, one master station may need to support over 1,000 sensing points. This poses challenges to the performance and solution simplicity of IO-Link software products," Ji Shuhan explained.

On November 12, 2024, the National Industrial Internet Platform Application Data Map (2023), developed by the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center, was officially released. Data showed that in 2023, the cloud adoption rate of industrial equipment among enterprises nationwide reached 21.2%. This indicates that due to limitations in on-site communication methods and lack of data collection capabilities, a large number of industrial equipment still cannot achieve digitalization and intelligentization.

With the promotion and application of the "Gu Shen" and "Zhi Shen" protocol stacks among downstream sensor manufacturers, IO-Link technology will empower traditional sensors with intelligent communication capabilities. The previous focus of sensor manufacturers on iterating capabilities in temperature and pressure monitoring will shift toward intelligent upgrading, driving the industrial chain toward higher-end development and helping domestic sensors compete for global market share. At the same time, IO-Link technology solves the long-standing problem of seamless industrial data connectivity, accelerating the digitalization of Chinese factories and significantly enhancing the influence of "Intelligent Manufacturing in China" in the digital and intelligent era.

"As a startup, Ruiyuan has broken through the bottleneck of weak underlying industrial communication protocols in China. As it establishes cooperation with upstream and downstream manufacturers, it will also open up more possibilities for the commercialization of communication protocols," said the relevant person in charge of the Future Industry Investment Department of the Venture Capital Group. He expressed confidence that Ruiyuan will attract more like-minded entrepreneurial partners with independent innovation capabilities to integrate into the innovation ecosystem of manufacturing digital transformation. In the future, the Venture Capital Group will continue to empower the company’s development and provide sustained financial support through industrial special funds.