World Digital Economy Conference opens in Ningbo

The digital economy in China is picking up steam as digitalization leads a new global round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, noted Zhang Xueying, deputy head of the State Information Center.

Zhang made the comments while addressing the main forum of the 2019 World Digital Economy Conference that opened in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province on Friday.

Echoing Zhang, Gao Xingfu, vice-governor of Zhejiang, pointed out that the digital economy has emerged as a pivotal engine behind economic growth worldwide with the accelerated integration of technologies including the internet, big data and artificial intelligence, all driving social and economic development.

China's digital economy accounted for 34.8 percent of its gross domestic product in 2018, remaining a key pivot for the country's economic growth, a report said.

Released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology in April, the report shows that the internet-based digital economy rose to 31.3 trillion yuan ($4.6 trillion) last year, up by 20.9 percent year-on-year.

As a spearhead of China's reform and opening-up, the coastal province of Zhejiang is leading the nation in terms of digital economic growth.

According to Gao, the scale of the digital economy in the province soared 19.26 percent to 2.33 trillion yuan in 2018, accounting for 41.54 percent of its total regional GDP.

Zhejiang intends to take the amount to over 4 trillion yuan, double that of 2017.

Hosting the World Digital Economy Conference is part of the province's efforts to facilitate global cooperation and exchanges in the digital economy, the vice governor revealed.

Luminaries including Nobel Prize Laureate George Smoot, Pan Yunhe, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Jahannes Vizethum, executive director of DIF Industries 4.0, also delivered speeches at the forum.

The conference coincided with the China Smart City and Intelligent Economy Expo which kicked off on the same day in Ningbo.

Covering an area of nearly 30,000 square meters, the expo, which ran until Sept 8, attracted over 400 tech companies and organizations, including Baidu, Huaiwei and ZTE, all eager to showcase their latest accomplishments and products.

The expo, now in its ninth year in the city, has become a significant platform promoting cooperation and exchanges in smart city construction and the intelligent economy in China.