Citizens observing a high-tech device at the Expo. [Photo by Tang Yan]
By Jin Lu
The 2021 World Digital Economy Conference was held in Ningbo on Oct. 15, marking the opening of the 11th Smart City and Intelligent Economy Expo.
With the theme of "Digital Drive, Intelligent Development", the three-day event hosted eight kinds of activities in both online and offline venues, including an exhibition, forums, project matchmaking meetings, achievement releases, as well as competitions.
The Expo has been held in Ningbo every year since its inception in 2011 and has become a significant platform to promote cooperation and exchange in smart city construction and intelligent economy in China.
'Black Technologies'
Unveiled at the Expo
At the Smart City and Intelligent Economy Expo, eye-opening "black technologies" from all over the country were introduced. Covering an area of 20,000 square kilometers, the Expo attracted nearly 200 digital economic companies and organizations, including Huawei, Alibaba, and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited (CASIC).
Walking into Hall 1, the booth of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was crowded with people. "This is a saltwater lamp, which is simple and convenient to use," the booth staff said while demonstrating. He poured a little salt and water into a plastic bag, then the lamp was amazingly lit up. The staff explained that the lamp contained a metal fuel cell, which used aluminum and magnesium as fuel and reacted with air in salt water.
The reporter learned that the saltwater lamp is less affected by the environment and can be used for emergency lighting. This small "light" also helps to ensure power supplies in difficult scenario, such as rescue and disaster relief, emergency firefighting, communication base stations, and military.
"Continuously, it lasts for 72 hours, or intermittently for a week," said the person in charge of the company. During the typhoon In-Fa this year, hundreds of sets of saltwater lamps were used.
The lightweight studio in Ningbo Unicom's booth was also praised for its "magic". "With the help of 5G technology, you only need to stand in a specific position, select the scene you want to go according to the program, and the filter will cut out your portrait and place it in the selected scene, just like time travel," the booth staff member said.
At the Expo, visitors couldn't wait to experience the scene. Some people crossed to the ski resort in an instant, some crossed to Beijing, and some the Ice Cube. This lightweight studio is mainly used in media weather forecasts, live broadcast rooms, etc.
At the Ningbo Telecom booth, 5G technology allowed people to experience a "pass through the air". Citizens only need to sit, and then they can mine on the big screen. "This scenario will soon be put into daily operation," the staff member told the reporter.
Ranking among First-tier
Cities in Digital Economy
The digital economy is one of the keys to advance high-quality development as the profound changes in the world unseen in the century and the pandemic are intertwined, said industry officials and experts.
Lu Shan, Vice-Governor of Zhejiang, stressed that digital economy has become a pivotal engine of high-quality development of the province.
According to Lu, the core above-designated-size digital economic industries garnered more than 1.78 trillion yuan ($276.5 billion) in revenues in the first eight months of this year, up by 31.9 percent year-on-year.
Ningbo was ranked 15th on the 2021 list of top 100 Chinese cities in terms of digital economy, which was recently released by CCID Consulting, a firm affiliated with a think tank under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The city was also rated as a new first-tier city in China in terms of digital economy development.
Beijing topped the ranking, followed by Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Tianjin, Suzhou, and Chongqing.
The ranking was made by evaluating cities from a variety of perspectives, including digital infrastructure, digital economy industries, digital governance, and data value.
Ningbo's high ranking was primarily thanks to the city's great efforts in seeking digital economy growth in recent years.
By the end of last year, broadband access speed in Ningbo's urban and rural areas had reached 1,000 Mbps and 500 Mbps. The city had constructed more than 10,000 5G base stations, with signals covering all its key commercial blocks.
In the first half of this year, the added value of the core industries in Ningbo's digital economy sector reached 25.1 billion yuan ($3.86 billion), up by 30 percent year-on-year and accounting for 11 percent of the total added value of above-designated-size enterprises in the city.
Ningbo aims to increase the added value of the digital economy to 100 billion yuan by 2025. The added value of the core industries in the digital economy sector is expected to account for more than 11 percent of the city's GDP by 2025.