Shanghai unveils plan to turn city into digital global powerhouse

The municipal government of Shanghai introduced on Wednesday a digital transformation plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, paving the way to transform Shanghai into an international digital city of global influence by 2035.

Local authorities mapped out a bucket of measures, including ramping up intelligent infrastructure, building data centers, conducting financial technology trials, and promoting the online economy to realize a phased goal of becoming a first-class international digital city within five years.

The construction of artificial intelligence and internet of things shall be advanced to enhance connectivity in the city, according to a directive published on the municipal government's website.

The deployment of 5G network, satellite internet and the upgrade of the superfast 10 gigabit networks will be accelerated to cover the entire city.

Shanghai is looking to build a high-performance collaborative computing ecosystem encompassing ultra-large data centers, large and medium data centers, and edge data centers, it added.

Digital renminbi will be put to pilot use in both online and offline payments, transportation, civic affairs and other scenarios regarding people's livelihoods. The city plans to provide loans initiative worth more than 200 billion yuan under the inclusive finance umbrella, using big data to make funding available to more enterprises.

Another area of focus is to foster the so-called online new economy, where online enterprises adopt digital means like short videos and livestreaming to revamp retail, services and cultural arts.