IT to play a bigger role: Minister

China will further integrate traditional industries with information technology to lift their productivity and foster more demand in the IT sector, according to a half-year work conference held by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Thursday.

Minister Miao Wei vowed to make the most of IT's role in upgrading traditional industries and cultivating emerging strategic sectors. He said he would strive to realize "significant progress" within the next five years.

"Information technology is the most vibrant, most penetrating filled with the largest spillover effect," Miao told more than 100 officials in Beijing and many others in charge of industries and IT across China, who attended the conference via a cable connection.