Powerful future awaits digital economy

The theme of the 4th World Internet Conference, held recently in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, "Developing digital economy for openness and shared benefits - Building a community of common future in cyberspace", points to the direction of future global economic development, which among other things requires advanced technologies and a smarter production system.

A country that takes the lead in mastering the core technologies of the digital economy and successfully implements them on a large scale will gain the upper hand in the fierce global competition, because an advanced digital economy can make growth more sustainable and effective, as well as promote research and development in related areas.

Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that people in the regions where the digital economy has developed rapidly enjoy a relatively high degree of economic growth. And National Bureau of Statistics data show that a 1 percentage point growth in the "Internet Plus" digital economy index will increase the GDP by 140.6 billion yuan ($21.24 billion). For the record, China's "Internet Plus" digital economy index was 161.95 points at the end of last year.