Beijing has issued an implementation plan to accelerate the construction of its digital economy. The plan proposes that Beijing will focus on the world’s cutting-edge technologies and future strategic requirements, and promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy.
To this end, Beijing will be ahead of the layout of a generation of digital technological innovation. The city will support the development of communication technologies such as new-generation information and communication networks, the integration of communication and Artificial Intelligence (AI), the integration of satellite and ground networking, and the security of communication networks.
Beijing will also push forward its research and development of 6G-related high-end chips, core devices, and simulation and verification platforms, according to the implementation plan. Additionally, the city will develop a superconducting quantum computer and operating system, as well as quantum algorithms and application software. Beijing will strengthen its quantum circuit development to a leading international level.
In the fields of AI chips and deep learning, the city has pledged to become more internationally influential and technologically leading, per the plan, and it will also promote breakthroughs in large-scale blockchain, brain and brain-like information systems, central information processing, 3D biological analysis and simulation, DNA storage and computing, and human-computer intelligent interaction.
According to a page, Beijing aims is to build the capital into a benchmark city for the global digital economy. The Implementation Plan on Accelerating the Construction of a Benchmark City for the Global Digital Economy aims for Beijing to lead in six areas as a global digital economy benchmark city.
The plan includes the building of a highland for urban digital intelligent transformation, a hub for international data and factors configuration, an incubation centre for the emerging digital industry, a source of global digital technology innovation, a digital governance service platform with China solutions, and a highland for digital economy cooperation.
The plan proposes that by 2022, Beijing’s digital economy infrastructure and support system will be further improved, and its domestic benchmarking position will be further consolidated. By 2025, a high-quality development model driven by data will be basically established, enabling Beijing to enter the ranks of advanced digital economy cities worldwide.
By 2030, Beijing will develop into a digitally empowered mega-city with an added value of its digital economy accounting for a more significant proportion of the city’s GDP. Beijing will be built into a benchmark city for the global digital economy.
The plan also outlines how the capital will focus on the fundamental, comprehensive, and key sectors of the digital economy and take the lead in implementing construction projects such as a digital city operating system, a supercomputing power centre, and an international big data transaction centre.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, China has dedicated growing resources to basic research and original innovation in recent years. Their efforts aim to cultivate a driving force for economic growth and improving people’s living standards. Chinese researchers, hi-tech enterprises and local governments are together actively striving to strengthen original innovation.
A hi-tech university laboratory has been making plans for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) research institution to explore the frontiers of AI research and make breakthroughs in key technologies. The Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences has also been established with the aim to be at the global forefront of quantum physics and quantum information science. The superconducting quantum computing team made a major breakthrough by improving the decoherence time of superconducting qubits.
China has attached great importance to institutional innovation and high-level engineer and research team building. By taking a problem-oriented approach, they set up teams to overcome challenges. Science and technology development, cultivation of major talent resources, and innovation are crucial driving forces. The combination of the three can help achieve sci-tech self-reliance and self-improvement at higher levels.