Promote the coordinated development of the regional digital economy

Author: Chen Xiaodong (Research Fellow, Institute of Industrial Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

In recent years, the rapid development of the digital economy, the wide range of radiation, and the unprecedented depth of its influence are becoming the key forces in reorganizing global factor resources, reshaping the global economic structure, and changing the global competitive landscape, and play an important role in promoting industrial structure upgrading, strengthening the innovation chain of the industrial chain supply chain, and promoting high-quality economic development. The development of the digital economy in the mainland is relatively fast and the achievements are remarkable, and the scale of the digital economy has ranked second in the world for many consecutive years. But at the same time, we must also see that compared with the world's digital economy powers and powers, the mainland digital economy is large but not strong, fast but not excellent, especially the gap between regions in the level of digital economy development is large. In this regard, it is necessary to adapt measures to local conditions and precise policies, find a realistic path to promote the coordinated development of the regional digital economy, and then better implement the regional coordinated development strategy and promote high-quality development.

It should be noted that our emphasis on the coordinated development of the regional digital economy does not require the quality and level of the development of the digital economy in all regions to be consistent, but pays more attention to effectively releasing the advantages of different regions, focusing on narrowing the development gap of the digital economy between regions, and forming a pattern of coordinated development of the regional digital economy by building a mechanism for coordinated development and complementary advantages between regions.

In a certain sense, the regional differences in the development of the digital economy can also be understood as different regions are at different stages of the development of the digital economy. Specifically, the digital infrastructure in the western region still needs to be improved, and the level of digital technology application and innovation is relatively lagging behind; the level of digital infrastructure in the central region is slightly higher, and the level of digital technology application and innovation is constantly developing; the digital infrastructure in the eastern region is relatively perfect, and the level of digital technology application and innovation is relatively high.

There are many factors affecting the development of the digital economy, and it is particularly necessary to pay attention to the impact of the industrial structure and the level of opening up in different regions on the development of the digital economy. Vigorously promoting the upgrading of industrial structure can have a greater positive impact on the development of the digital economy in the central and western regions, mainly because the potential of the upgrading of the industrial structure in these areas and the driving effect on economic growth are large, and to a certain extent, they can form synergy and mutual promotion with the development of the digital economy. Further improving the level of opening up to the outside world can have a more significant role in promoting the development of the digital economy in the eastern region.

At present, the central and western regions still have a large space for development in the construction of digital infrastructure, the industrial base also needs to be strengthened, according to local conditions, scientifically formulate long-term planning and short-term goals for the development of the digital economy, on the basis of combining the region's own development conditions, make full use of resource endowments and cost advantages to promote the development of the digital economy; the eastern region can be based on the good foundation of the development of the digital economy, in the search for new development opportunities and innovation opportunities to make a difference.

Ultimately, the imbalance and uncoordinated regional development is the root cause of the digital economy showing different development trends in different regions. We must not only put the development of the digital economy in various regions in the promotion of coordinated regional development to plan, but also take the development of the digital economy as an important starting point for promoting the coordinated development of the region. To better develop the digital economy, it is necessary to develop in a coordinated manner between the eastern, central and western regions, combine the low-cost advantages and resource advantages of the central and western regions with the technological, market and digital industry advantages of the eastern regions, and form a mechanism for complementary advantages and coordinated development.

First, efforts should be made to improve the quality of regional economic development and narrow the gap in the development of the digital economy in promoting high-quality economic development. The imbalance and incongruity of the development of the regional digital economy exist objectively, and continuously narrowing the overall development gap between the eastern, central and western regions is the key to achieving the coordinated development of the regional digital economy. In this regard, it is necessary to clarify the resource endowments and realistic foundations of each region, identify the pain points and advantages of each region in developing the digital economy, and plan the positioning and role of different regions in the development of the digital economy as a whole, and implement targeted and precise policies. The focus is to accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system based on regional resource endowments, promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, give play to the important role of digital technology in promoting industrial transformation and upgrading, enable different regions to develop the digital economy in the process of stimulating economic development potential and improving the quality of economic development, and gradually narrow the existing gap.

Second, increase the construction of new infrastructure in the central and western regions and consolidate the foundation for the development of the digital economy. Promoting the construction of new infrastructure is an important starting point for the development of the digital economy in the central and western regions. The central and western regions can consider building ultra-large data processing centers based on low-cost advantages and resource endowment conditions, so as to promote the improvement of digital infrastructure in the central and western regions, reduce the cost of data processing in the eastern region, and achieve the coordinated development of digital infrastructure in the eastern, central and western regions. It should also be noted that at present, there is a tendency of "heavy hard and light soft" in the construction of digital infrastructure in the mainland, and the relevant construction is mainly concentrated in hardware facilities, and the construction of software facilities is relatively lagging behind, which is not conducive to the overall development of the digital economy. To better build digital infrastructure, it is necessary to take into account both "soft" and "hard", not only to do a good job of "hardware", but also to improve "software". In addition, it is also necessary to fully consider the cost of regional digital infrastructure renewal to avoid waste of resources caused by excessive supply of digital infrastructure.

Third, vigorously improve the level of digital technology application and innovation in the eastern region, and enhance the driving role of other regions. With the advantages of technology, talents, markets, policies and industries, the eastern region can make breakthroughs in the application and innovation of digital technologies, and provide more valuable experiences that can be copied and promoted in the central and western regions. As the highland of the development of the mainland's digital economy, the eastern region should take the lead in shouldering the heavy responsibility of overcoming difficulties, strengthen technical exchanges and cooperation between the government, universities, scientific research institutes and enterprises, create a strong scientific research atmosphere, and actively promote new mechanisms such as "unveiling the list and taking command"; further promote the development of a new generation of digital technology represented by "Great Wisdom Cloud", strengthen innovation in digital products, organizational models and business models, and provide support for digital industrialization and industrial digitalization; further improve market access in the field of digital economy. Laws and regulations in terms of operation and supervision, strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights of digital technology, and create a good market environment and strong institutional guarantees for the development of digital technology.

Fourth, further enhance the level of regional openness and actively carry out international cooperation in the field of digital economy. On the one hand, it is necessary to expand opening up to the outside world, make effective efforts to smooth the international cycle of the digital economy, and form a more open, secure and diversified digital trade pattern. Support the combination of "bringing in" and "going out", actively introduce foreign capital, use foreign capital with high quality, better develop digital industries, develop digital products, etc., and promote the "going out" of digital products and services in the mainland. On the other hand, it is necessary to increase the opening up between regions, and each region should consider its own development in the overall national strategy, combine it with the existing major regional strategy and regional coordinated development strategy, and formulate industrial policies to promote the coordinated development of the regional digital economy according to local conditions and time conditions. At the same time, it is also necessary to combine the promotion of urbanization with the coordinated development of the regional digital economy to form a virtuous circle of mutual promotion.

Source: Economic Daily