China’s digitalisation push seeks ‘digital energy’ to spark vital tech, economic growth in Greater Bay Area
- China’s southern province of Guangdong pledged to build a so-called Digital Bay Area in a detailed 15-page blueprint
- It is hoped the plan would become an economic growth point, and ‘digital energy’ would be a driving force for high-quality economic and social development
China is converging its manufacturing, trade and technology strengths in the Greater Bay Area development zone to spearhead digitalisation, aiming to break through technology curbs from the United States and prioritise growing the digital economy.
In a three-year action plan unveiled on Tuesday, China’s southern province of Guangdong pledged to build a so-called Digital Bay Area to provide cross-boundary data services, that would include the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
Guangdong plans to establish national data exchange hubs in its cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, create cross-border data whitelisting – which allows preapproved data to cross borders – and build offshore data centres in specific zones of the Greater Bay Area to maximise its technology, manufacturing, finance and human capital.
In its detailed 15-page blueprint, Guangdong released details about its goals of applying digitalisation to its industrial and supply chains to move up the value chain, fostering tighter tech collaboration between top companies and luring more foreign investments through shared data.
The construction of the ‘Digital Bay Area’ will become a new economic growth point in the Bay Area
“By 2025, the construction of the ‘Digital Bay Area’ will have been basically completed, with effective docking of the digital regulatory rules of the Greater Bay Area, efficient connectivity of new infrastructure construction, and balanced development of computing and storage capacities,” the Guangdong provincial government said.
