Technology to Contribute More to China's Economic Growth

By staff reporter XING WEN

China urgently needs to upgrade its industries by overcoming insufficient innovation to increase the contribution of technology to economic growth, Chinese business and government leaders concluded at a session on China's new business context at the ongoing Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2016 in Tianjin.

"The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us," remarked Ma Weihua, president of the China Entrepreneur Club. "China faces big changes, including an ageing population. The labour-cost advantage has been reduced. At the same time, the technology revolution is increasing productivity." He also pointed out that the weakness in innovation and the commercialization of technology is China's Achilles' heel.

China has to follow the same path as Japan and other industrialized Asian economies, which shifted from manufacturing to more capital- and technology-intensive sectors, reasoned Long Guoqiang, vice-president of the Development Research Center of China's State Council. His opinion was shared by chairman of Tsinghua Holdings Xu Jinghong who believes that to adapt to the changing world, it is necessary to have constant innovation.

"The advance of technology is unstoppable," Liu Zhen, senior vice-president and head of strategy at Uber China stressed. "The key for China is to feel empowered by technology and not overwhelmed by it." She also advised that the country should embrace the digital economy, which could offer new opportunities such as employment for workers laid-off in sunset sectors.