The white paper issued by East China’s Zhejiang province recently on the development of its digital economy showed that Hangzhou, the provincial capital, has maintained momentum and led other cities in Zhejiang in digital economic development.

Statistics show that in 2021, the operating revenue and added value of the core industries of the digital economy in Hangzhou reached 1.63 trillion yuan ($241.5 billion) and 490.5 billion yuan, respectively, accounting for 55 percent and 58.8 percent of the provincial total.

The inspiring results are a result of Hangzhou’s efforts in digital innovation, establishing digital industrial clusters, and deepening digital industrial reform.

For example, in pursuit of digital innovation, the Hangzhou West Science and Innovation Corridor has become a source of digital economic innovation. The city is also home to a number of national laboratories and large scientific devices, with some digital technologies having achieved the leap from following to parallel running.

Hangzhou has also formulated the province’s first local regulations for the digital economy – the Hangzhou Smart Economy Promotion Regulations, established the world’s first internet court, pioneered the development of a “health code”, which has become a powerful tool in national epidemic prevention and control work, and took the lead in proposing innovative concepts such as cloud enterprises, future factories, and internet of things in factories.