More than 60 percent of Shanghai’s gross domestic product will likely come from the city’s digital economy by 2025, according to the government.



Shanghai aims to have a CNY3 trillion (USD446 billion) digital economy in three years by focusing on e-sports, the metaverse, smart cars, and other such sectors, thereby becoming an international digital city, the local government said in a document released yesterday.



The digital economy accounted for more than half of Shanghai’s GDP last year, according to a July 8 report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. Official statistics showed that the city’s GDP was CNY4.3 trillion last year, meaning the digital economy was worth more than CNY2 trillion.



The value of China’s digital economy was CNY45.5 trillion (USD6.8 trillion) last year, up 16.2 percent from 2020, and making up almost 40 percent of the country’s GDP, the CAICT report said. Beijing’s digital economy accounted for more than half of the capital’s GDP, it added.



Shanghai will strive to develop digital industries to achieve the goal. For example, in the field of e-sports, it will attract international businesses, well-known clubs and event organizations to settle, and speed up the development of key gaming technologies such as avatars, graphics engines, cloud rendering and holographic imaging.



With regards to the metaverse, the eastern Chinese city will explore building a platform for the interaction between the virtual and real worlds, develop human-computer interaction technologies, cultivate new digital entertainment businesses, including virtual concerts, idols, and sports, as well as hardware- and software-integrated virtual reality and augmented reality devices.



Shanghai also will accelerate the technological development and mass production of smart cars, and advance the trial application of autonomous driving tech in real traffic conditions. It will also promote the development and use of other smart gear such as wearable devices, service robots, and medical equipment as well as smart homes.

Source: Yicai