On March 19th,  deputy director of the Information Technology Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Yang Yuyan, attended a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, answered the reporter's question session on the fourth Digital China Summit this April, and shared the country's considerations in developing the digital economy and promoting the construction of digital China.

The "14th Five-Year Plan" has one chapter, which puts forward clear objectives and requirements for "accelerating digital development and building digital China", which fully reflects the great importance attached by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to the construction of digital China. In recent years, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has vigorously promoted the development of digital economy. During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the average annual growth rate of China's digital economy exceeded 16.6%, which provided strong support for building a digital China.

First, the industrial base has been continuously improved. The world's largest optical fiber network and 4G network have been built, and the number of connections of 5G terminals currently exceeds 200 million; Software and information service industry, electronic information manufacturing industry and communication service industry have developed rapidly. Taking software as an example, the software business revenue reached 8.16 trillion yuan last year, up 13.3% year-on-year.

Second, the pace of digital transformation is accelerating. In the manufacturing sector, China vigorously promotes the construction of industrial Internet. There are currently more than 80 influential industrial Internet platforms and more than 350,000 industrial apps of various types in China, which strongly supports the industry to improve quality, reduce costs and increase efficiency. In terms of information consumption, China actively cultivates and promotes new data-driven models and formats. Especially during the epidemic prevention and control period, online education, telecommuting and online shopping have played a very important role.

In the next step, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will take the guideline of the country,  conform to the development trend of digitalization, networking and intelligence, accelerate the construction of digital China, and focus on THREE aspects of work.

First, promote the digital industry to become bigger and stronger. Focusing on the seven key industries of digital economy and the ten digital application scenarios listed in the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan, China will focus efforts on promoting the development of strategic emerging industries such as big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain, and strive to cultivate an open source ecology and build a digital industrial cluster with international competitiveness.

Second, promote the digital transformation. Further promote the deep integration of the new generation of information technology and manufacturing industry, and drive the transformation of production mode with digitalization. Expand and upgrade information consumption, speed up the construction of information barrier-free, and drive lifestyle changes with digitalization, so that digital dividends can effectively benefit people's production and life.

Third, gradually improve the digital ecology. Continuously improve the data management capabilities of enterprises and institutions and consolidate the data foundation; Cultivate big data trading platform, explore various data trading modes, promote data circulation, effectively collect, manage and use data, and activate the value of data elements.