Digitally Intelligent Hangzhou
In the first three quarters of 2024, Hangzhou’s GDP reached 1.5215 trillion yuan, with a 4.5% year-on-year growth at constant prices. This marks the first time Hangzhou’s GDP has exceeded 1.5 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of the year.
According to officials from the Bureau of Economy and Information Technology of Hangzhou, the continuous growth of Hangzhou’s new economic drivers has been the main force behind sustainable growth. Data from the first half of the year shows that Hangzhou’s large-scale high-tech industries, strategic emerging industries and equipment manufacturing industries saw growth of 4.9%, 6.0% and 6.3%, playing a key role in driving the economy forward.
For an economy of Hangzhou’s scale, the greater challenge lies in how to achieve a transition from “aggregation” to “integration” across industries that span both manufacturing and services. The answer is to build five major industrial ecosystems: smart IoT, biomedicine, high-end equipment, new materials and green energy. Among these, the smart IoT ecosystem is of particular importance. Within this trillion-yuan smart IoT industry ecosystem, visual intelligence is becoming a leading industry chain. As the hub for the visual intelligence industry and a platform for creating world-class industrial clusters, China Vision Valley is becoming an increasingly visible iconic project and key driver.
Innovation Ecosystem Map
The innovation system in Hangzhou is characterised by innovation across various fields. Universities and high-level research institutions each have their advantages. A group of companies at the forefront of global industries treats innovation as their lifeblood, with a keen awareness of market demand, enabling a deep integration of the research and industrial chains. A favourable business environment has made innovation and entrepreneurship an integral part of Hangzhou’s DNA.
In an exclusive conversation with Caijing Think Tank, Wang Jian, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of Zhijiang Laboratory, says that AI’s prominence in the Nobel Prizes is a signal for humanity to rethink the meaning and concept of fundamental disciplines. This is no longer a revolution in scientific research tools, but a tool that could revolutionise science itself.
Ant Group: Soaring with Technology
In today’s digital era, internet companies play an indispensable role on the digital economy stage with their convenient digital services and technological innovation capabilities. From search engines to social media, e-commerce to cloud computing, major internet firms continue to expand their business boundaries and lead industry trends with their unique business models and technological innovations.
However, these internet companies face challenges, including increasingly stringent global regulations, growing concerns about data privacy and security, slowing business growth, market competition and uncertainties brought by new technological transformations. In this context, Ant Group, as a leading global internet open platform, is delving into digital financial products, digital lifestyle services and digital technology solutions to find new growth curves. Its development path and strategic layout not only influence the fin-tech industry but also offer practical insights for the broader internet sector.
High-tech Zone (Binjiang): Innovation for the Future
Binjiang’s IoT Town has gathered a group of internationally competitive digital service leading enterprises. As part of the “One Park, Three Valleys and Five Towns” industrial layout in the High-tech Zone (Binjiang), the IoT Town has formed a trillion-yuan digital industry cluster, combining “IoT + industrial hub.” In the context of Hangzhou’s goal to build a trillion-yuan smart IoT ecosystem, the town has become a demonstration model of industry aggregation, fission and formation of clusters.
In the first half of this year, the town’s revenue reached 140.15 billion yuan, with a 12.3% year-on-year growth. It achieved an industrial output value of 62.33 billion yuan, of which the digital economy accounted for 96.1%. The High-tech Zone (Binjiang) is referred to as Hangzhou’s “Digital Economy Power Zone”. Based on rough calculations of output value, over 40% of Hangzhou’s smart IoT industry ecosystem comes from Binjiang.
