China's digital economy lead set to drive world growth

Emerging tech, industrial transition to boost modernization, competitive edge

Emerging technologies such as the internet of things and the booming digital economy, where China is leading, will create new growth drivers for the world amid a challenging global environment, experts and entrepreneurs have said.

Despite headwinds from geopolitical issues and the COVID-19 pandemic, the blossoming of cutting-edge technologies, such as IoT and innovations in the digital economy, will inject new impetus to the world economy, said He Xuming, chairman of the World Internet of Things Convention executive committee.

The total number of 5G base stations in China will likely top 3 million this year, laying a solid foundation for the development of IoT, and the GDP of the emerging digital economy will likely expand by around 30 percent, He said during a recent meeting in Beijing dubbed the World IoT Top 500 Summit.

"The world is currently transitioning from an industrial to a digital economy, with the latter accounting for around half of global GDP and growing at around 20 percent annually," said He Qiang, vice-chairman of the World Internet of Things Convention executive committee. "This year, the growth rate may hit over 25 percent," he said.

He Qiang said IoT-supported digital and smart industries have huge growth potential, and a rising number of IoT products, systems, and platforms have already cropped up, covering a wide range of fields including industry, agriculture, logistics, transportation, energy and smart lives.

During the past few years, China has made considerable progress in boosting the growth of the digital economy.

The scale of China's digital economy reached 45.5 trillion yuan ($6.3 trillion) in 2021, second in the world and accounting for 39.8 percent of the country's GDP, according to a white paper released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

Earlier this year, the country issued a guideline on the construction of a digital China, which will serve as an important engine for boosting its modernization drive in the digital era and provide solid support for the development of a new competitive edge.

By 2035, China will be at the forefront of digital development globally, and its digital progress in certain aspects of economy, politics, culture, society and ecology will be more coordinated and sustained, according to the plan.

Huang Ying, vice-president of Chinese tech heavyweight Lenovo Group, told China Daily that China has been among the tops in terms of digital industrialization and industrial digitalization in the world.

Huang said digital technologies like IoT and artificial intelligence will boost connectivity among industrial chains and companies, helping to reduce costs, improve efficiency and boost productivity.

Huang said Lenovo will continuously invest in smart and digital development, and will continue to share its experiences and provide solutions for the digital transformation of other enterprises.

He also expressed strong confidence for business in the second half of the year, given the rising demand for new technologies and services in fields like AI.