Yang JidongHe is a professor at the School of Economics, Renmin University of Chinese, and a key member of the China Macroeconomic Forum (CMF).
This article ** since December 4 People's Tribune.
Number of words: 6131 words.
Reading time: 16 minutes.
The digital economy mainly includes digital industrialization and industrial digitalization, of which industrial digitalization refers to the efficiency improvement and output increase brought about by traditional industries through the application of digital technology and data resources. At present, industrial digitalization continues to develop in depth, and new formats and models such as platform economy, industrial Internet, and intelligent manufacturing are emerging, which have become an important part of the digital economy.
The current situation of China's industrial digitalization development
Overall statistics on industrial digitalization. The dominant position of industrial digitalization has been further consolidated, and its contribution to the economy and society has been continuously improved. According to the "Development of China's Digital Economy" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the scale of China's industrial digitalization will reach 31 in 20207 trillion yuan, accounting for 31 percent of GDP2%。Among them, industrial digitalization accounts for 80% of the digital economy9%。In comparison, the scale of digital industrialization is 75 trillion yuan, accounting for only 19 percent of the digital economy1%, accounting for only 73%。Industrial digitalization has provided important support for the development of the digital economy, and has also become an important new driving force for the development of the national economy, playing an important role in achieving high-quality development of China's economy.
The digitalization of industries in various regions has been steadily promoted, but the problem of unbalanced development is still prominent. From the provincial level, Guangdong's industrial digital development is in a leading position in the country, with an overall scale of nearly 35 trillion yuan. In addition, the digital scale of industries in Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang and other places is also at the forefront, with an overall scale of more than 2 trillion yuan. However, there are still nearly half of the regions with a scale of less than 1 trillion yuan in industrial digitalization, which is far behind the scale of the aforementioned provinces. In terms of the proportion of GDP, Shanghai's industrial digitalization accounts for 45% of the overall GDP1%, Fujian, Zhejiang, Tianjin, Beijing and other regions accounted for nearly 40%, Shandong, Hubei, Liaoning, Chongqing, Guangdong, Hebei and other regions all exceeded 30%, while the rest of the provinces accounted for less than 30%.
Statistics and descriptions of industrial digitalization by industry. The digitalization of the three industries has been steadily promoted, and the overall development level of the service industry is relatively high. According to the "Development of China's Digital Economy" in 2020, the proportion of China's agricultural, industrial, and service digital economy in the overall added value of the industry is0% and 407%, about 1:2:4, a year-on-year increase of6 and 29 percentage points. A large number of enterprises have accelerated digital transformation by using digital technologies such as the Internet of Things and the Industrial Internet, and the penetration rate of the industrial digital economy has steadily increased. Thanks to China's strong consumer market and the development needs of the digital transformation of the service industry, the digital development level of the service industry is significantly higher than that of other industries.
Enterprise-level statistics for industrial digitalization. From the perspective of enterprise scale, the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises is in its infancy as a whole, and it is more focused on subdivisions. According to the "Analysis Report on the Digital Transformation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (2020)" released by the China Electronics Standardization Institute, 89% of small and medium-sized enterprises are in the exploration stage, 8% are in the practice stage, and only 3% are in the in-depth application stage. Therefore, on the whole, China's small and medium-sized enterprises are still in the initial stage of digital transformation. In addition, compared with large enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises are more focused on market segments, and more emphasis is placed on specialized production, service and collaborative supporting capabilities.
International Comparison of Industrial Digitalization. The proportion of digitalization in China's industry ranks among the highest in the world. According to the "Global Digital Economy" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the proportion of global industrial digitalization in the digital economy in 2020 is 844%, accounting for 43 percent of GDP7%。In contrast, the digitalization of German industries accounts for 91% of the digital economy3%, and China's industrial digitalization accounted for 809%, and only 13 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Japan, South Africa, Russia, Brazil, and Norway, account for more than 80% of industrial digitalization.
The penetration rate of the secondary and tertiary industries is slightly lower than the global average. According to the Global Digital Economy, the proportion of the global agricultural, industrial, and service digital economy in the overall added value of the industry in 2020 is .1% and 439%。The proportion of China's three industries is0% and 407%, the digital penetration rate of the primary industry is relatively high, while the digital penetration rate of the secondary and tertiary industries is lower than the global average. In contrast, developed countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States have a relatively high penetration rate of digitalization. Among them, the digital penetration rate of Germany's agriculture, industry, and service industries is .9% and 679%, compared to the United Kingdom0% and 661%。
The main trends in the development of industrial digitalization in China
First, digital technology empowers the digital transformation of industries to accelerate. The continuous maturity of digital technology has formed a new industrial ecology driven by science and technology, which has accelerated the digital transformation and upgrading of industries, and digital technology has become an important "connector" between the traditional real economy and the digital economy. On the one hand, traditional industries with a good digital foundation have moved from the original small-scale exploration stage to the large-scale application stage, improving the overall performance of the industry. On the other hand, traditional industries with a weak digital foundation will also use digital technology to reshape the industrial pattern and transform the industrial ecology, so as to achieve corner overtaking.
Second, industrial value creation highlights the demand orientation of end consumers. In the digital era, end consumers play an increasingly important role in the business value chain, and digital consumers with high digital skills and literacy are widely involved in R&D, design, production, sales and other links, and have become the key nodes connecting many links in the industrial chain, and their voice in commodity production innovation and business model transformation has been continuously enhanced. Therefore, the digital value creation of the industry will be more consumer-oriented, and meet the personalized needs of consumers through a more efficient, flexible and accurate marketing model.
Third, the relationship between industrial organizations has changed from linear competition to ecological win-win. The development of digital technology has promoted the continuous transformation of industrial organization, changed its original linear competition situation, and the characteristics of platformization, sharing and diversification have become more and more prominent. The digital ecology formed by establishing a cooperative relationship based on user value makes the boundaries of enterprises gradually expand, thereby promoting the liberalization of the flow of factor resources and the refinement of industrial division of labor, giving full play to the value from the two aspects of "efficiency" and "efficacy", achieving the deep integration of policy, technology and industrial chain, and finally realizing the transformation to an ecological win-win relationship.
Fourth, scenario-based applications lead the new direction of industrial digital development. At present, the application scenarios of digital technology are becoming more and more extensive, and its implementation in digital cities, digital healthcare, digital manufacturing, digital transportation, digital manufacturing, etc., continues to promote a new round of digital innovation, and fully reflects the value of digital technology. With the reconstruction of enterprise business processes by digital technology, more new needs and new business formats will be activated, and scenario-based applications will also show the characteristics of in-depth in the future, so as to accelerate the implementation of industrial digitalization and lead the development direction of industrial digitalization.
Fifth, co-construction, sharing and symbiosis have become the key to the digital transformation of the industry. Industrial digitalization is a long-term process with co-construction, sharing and symbiosis as the key to development, and enterprises can truly realize industrial digital transformation only by building a cross-border multilateral integration ecological model with extensive alliances and win-win cooperation. In the process of transformation, enterprises in different industrial fields and at different levels of the industrial chain have different digital infrastructure and data resources, and most of them are in a state of fragmentation, which is difficult to adapt to the development needs of the digital economy. With the continuous improvement of the penetration and integration of the digital economy in traditional industries, enterprises can replace the original closed ecology through co-construction, sharing and symbiosis, so as to achieve cross-border integration and optimization.
Governance challenges faced by industrial digitalization
The first is the uncertainty generated by industrial digitalization. While digitalization empowers the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, it also brings more uncertainties. The first is the uncertainty brought about by industrial digitalization. The digital transformation of the industry is undergoing a transformation from information management based on traditional enterprise resource information systems such as ERP and CRM to value system reconstruction based on emerging digital technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and the Internet of Things. However, the complexity and influencing factors of the systems built by digital transformation are increasing compared with traditional industries, so digitalization also brings uncertainty. Second, there is great uncertainty in the results of digitalization. In the process of industrial digital transformation, high costs and high risks will bring greater pressure to enterprises and greatly affect the final transformation results. Even if the transformation is successful, it remains to be seen whether the application of digitalization can improve the performance of enterprises, which also increases the uncertainty of digitalization. The third is the uncertainty brought by industrial digitalization to supervision. Digitalization generally has the characteristics of mutual integration of various fields, and the existing governance system is mainly oriented to specific regions and specific fields in terms of functional settings, so the development of industrial digitalization has brought certain challenges to the supervision of functional departments, and put forward higher requirements for the follow-up and update of departmental supervision methods.
The second is the imbalance caused by industrial digitalization. With the development of digital technology, the imbalance of industrial digitalization has become increasingly prominent. The first is the formation of a specific digital divide. In the context of the digital economy, participants need to master sufficient information resources and advanced digital technology in order to survive and develop. However, the progress of the construction of the new generation of digital infrastructure and the abundance of data resources vary greatly, mainly concentrated in native digital enterprises with sufficient capital and technical foundation. Traditional economic organizations are constrained by a variety of factors, and it is difficult to obtain corresponding resources, thus forming obstacles to development. Second, there is a monopoly phenomenon in some leading enterprises. In the process of industrial digital transformation, due to the phenomenon of Metcalfe's law in the digital economy, that is, the value of the network grows at the rate of the square of the number of users. Therefore, under the effect of network externalities, digital transformation is prone to form a "winner-takes-all" situation, and the market structure tends to be monopolistic. Third, there are large differences in the degree of digitalization among enterprises. According to IDC statistics, more than 55% of enterprises in China have not yet completed the digital transformation of basic equipment, and there is a large gap in the level of digital development between enterprises, and more than 50% of manufacturing enterprises are still in the stage of single-point test and local promotion, which is difficult to produce synergies.
Thirdly, there are technical barriers to industrial digitalization. The technical barriers in the process of industrial digitalization hinder the process of digitalization. First, the cost of technology is unaffordable. Generally speaking, it is difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to meet the requirements of digitalization in technology, and they often rely on third-party digital platforms to integrate their own resources. However, the external data platform is difficult to meet the personalized needs of enterprises, and there are many restrictions in use, and the use cost is high, which invisibly increases the technical barriers of enterprises. The second is the lack of awareness of digitalization. Many enterprises still stay in the application stage of traditional information technology such as ERP and CRM, and the development and iteration speed of emerging technologies is relatively fast, and it is difficult for traditional manufacturing enterprises to understand, apply and master these technologies. Third, there is a lack of digital talent. An important problem faced by SMEs in the process of digital transformation is the lack of suitable digital talent. The lack of professional and technical personnel has also led to the hindrance of enterprises in the transformation process, increasing the technical barriers faced by enterprises.
Finally, there is the employment impact of industrial digitalization. Industrial digitalization has had a great impact on the original form of employment. First, the digital economy affects traditional employment methods. The continuous development of the digital economy has a great impact on the operation mode of the traditional economy, such as the impact of the rise of online shopping on the traditional retail industry. Compared with traditional economic practitioners, emerging digital enterprises can quickly occupy the market due to their obvious advantages in technology and capital, affect the interests of practitioners in traditional industries, and impact the employment of traditional industries. Second, the development of the digital economy has reduced the demand for low-skilled talents. The digital economy has increased the demand for high-tech talents, increased the employment of high-tech talents, and increased the skill premium, but the number of low-skilled talents employed has decreased significantly, and the wage income of labor factors has been declining, widening the income gap between high-tech and low-skilled talents. Third, the development of the digital economy has enabled more and more capital to replace labor. The imbalance in the distribution of wealth between capital and labor exacerbates the wealth inequality among people with different assets. Although AI increases labor productivity and output, the substitution effect of technology reduces the share of labor in economic value added, thereby reducing the demand for workers and increasing inequality among workers. Fourth, the digital economy will exacerbate the "Matthew effect" of talents. China's economic development is unbalanced, the development between urban and rural areas and between regions, the differences in digital infrastructure between regions, and the education level of talents are even more different, which will make high-quality talents continue to gather in regions with a higher degree of digitalization, and exacerbate the imbalance in industrial digitalization in different regions.
Countermeasures and suggestions to promote the development of industrial digitalization
First, accelerate the construction of digital infrastructure. Digital infrastructure is an important support for cultivating new models, new business formats, and new industries. As data continues to be integrated into the process of economic value creation and becomes a new factor of production, its basic positioning as a key factor in building digital productivity and driving the development of the digital economy has been clarified, and it has also become a new variable in the international competition to compete for the commanding heights of the digital economy. Through the construction of digital infrastructure, it can effectively promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, reduce costs, improve quality and efficiency, and enhance the market competitiveness and overall development level of traditional industries. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the progress of digital infrastructure construction, and strive to build a high-quality and wide-coverage digital infrastructure network as soon as possible, especially in industrial agglomeration areas and economically developed areas with urgent needs. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the coordinated development of digital infrastructure, application scenarios and application technologies, adhere to demand-oriented, promote the combination of digital infrastructure with traditional industries such as energy, transportation and manufacturing, and support the rapid development of innovative business formats.
Second, encourage the efficient use of data resources. Deepen the collection and utilization of data, and use data to empower industrial transformation. In view of the explosive growth and massive agglomeration of data in the digital economy, it is necessary to fully explore the potential of data resource elements and better play the role of data as a basic resource and innovation engine. Specifically, it is necessary to formulate relevant systems for the confirmation, pricing, and trading of data resources, improve the protection rules for data property rights, promote data sharing and openness, and deepen the collection and utilization of data. In addition, it is necessary to establish a unified and standardized data management system and a high-tech, high-computing and high-security data trading center to systematically and comprehensively collect, aggregate, integrate and store data resources, so as to realize the efficient use of data resources and give full play to the enabling and driving role of data resources in traditional industries.
Third, promote the extension and upgrading of the entire agricultural industry chain. Promote the digitalization of the whole chain of agricultural production, operation, management, and service. Innovation to promote the digital development of agriculture and improve the digital and intelligent level of modern agricultural production is the only way for China to move from an agricultural country to an agricultural power. Therefore, in terms of the digitalization of the agricultural industry, it is necessary to use digital technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to digitize the empirical knowledge and skills in the agricultural production process, and optimize them through data analysis, so as to provide support for the realization of intelligent and efficient agricultural production and operation. In addition, it is also necessary to improve the monitoring and early warning system for market and industrial damage, develop and provide services such as product production, first-class information, and supply and demand balance, so as to promote the green and sustainable development of agriculture.
Fourth, promote the digital transformation of traditional manufacturing industries. We will further promote the integration and development of digital technology and manufacturing. With the widespread penetration of digital technology, consumers' consumption Xi has changed, the business model of enterprises has been rapidly updated and iterative, the boundaries of traditional industries have been blurred and weakened, and the pressure on the development of traditional industries is self-evident. Therefore, it is necessary to realize the integration and symbiosis of industrial ecology between traditional industries and between traditional industries and digital enterprises, and create a mutually beneficial and win-win community of interests, so as to create a good ecological environment suitable for industrial digital transformation. Digital technology can improve the production efficiency of enterprises, solve problems such as the imbalance between supply and demand in the market, and promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional enterprises. On the one hand, the driving force for the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry stems from the improvement of the automation and intelligence level of product production and manufacturing process under the influence of digital technology, as well as the continuous deepening of the division of labor, so as to realize the combination of production and flexible production. On the other hand, the digital economy promotes the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry through data-driven, and provides new momentum for the transformation of the manufacturing industry by guiding the integration and development of manufacturing and emerging digital technologies. The digital economy can also expand the scope of economic application, significantly reduce production costs, and maximize economies of scale.
Fifth, accelerate the digital and networked transformation of the traditional service industry. The comprehensive digital upgrade of the traditional service industry will leverage new momentum for economic development. Digital technology has the characteristics of wide dissemination and low marginal cost, which can penetrate all scenarios and links of the service industry, promote the interconnection of various elements and the optimization of resource allocation, and promote a high degree of coordination between the upstream and downstream of the entire industry chain. Expand the boundaries of production possibilities on the supply side, improve consumer ability and willingness on the demand side, and promote the effective matching of service functions, space, time and other dimensions to promote the improvement of industrial efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to use digital technology to carry out all-round transformation of the traditional service industry, realize the digital, precise and intelligent development of the traditional service industry, and continuously give full play to the amplification, superposition and multiplication of digital technology on the business format, which will ultimately promote the quality and efficiency of the service industry and the healthy development.
Sixth, improve relevant policy support. ** In the policy guidance of industrial digital development, it is necessary to highlight precision, and change from "flood irrigation" to "precise drip irrigation" in the formulation of policies and measures, so as to help enterprises solve the current problems in the process of digital transformation, accurately grasp the difficulties and pain points of industrial digital transformation, and provide new ideas and new support for effectively solving the problems faced by the current industrial digital development, such as insufficient transformation capabilities, high transformation costs, and insufficient digital talent reserves. To solve the problems of unbalanced development and unequal income distribution caused by industrial digitalization, it is necessary to give full play to the supporting role of fiscal and taxation policies in enterprises and employment, support small and medium-sized enterprises to obtain low-cost financing support, alleviate the problem of difficult and expensive financing for enterprises, and reduce the pressure on the transformation of small, medium and micro enterprises. At the same time, it is also necessary to improve and adjust tax incentive policies, increase tax collection on large digital enterprises, and increase the relative proportion of capital in the tax base. In addition, it is necessary to increase the level of transfer payments to the short-term unemployed through fiscal and taxation policies, strengthen the guarantee of new jobs in the digital economy, and support the creation of jobs in areas with shortcomings in people's livelihood.
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