Shanghai, Taipei officials talk up digital economy development

Officials from Shanghai and Taipei have expressed their sincere hope of carrying out more exchanges and cooperation in the development of the digital economy. They were speaking at a concurrent session of the 2023 Shanghai-Taipei City Forum on Wednesday.

More than 60 officials, enterprise representatives and experts from across the Taiwan Strait attended the sub-forum on the theme of the digital economy, sharing experiences and insights on topics ranging from data and large models of artificial intelligence to digital governance and digital transformation of enterprises.

Zhang Ying, deputy director of the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization, told the forum that Shanghai is fostering a market for data and has established a national data trading center to promote the development of the digital economy.

Chen Hui-min, deputy commissioner of the Taipei City government's Department of Information Technology, shared Taipei's IT-driven innovation and data-driven governance.

Wu Jincheng, director of the commission, said that Shanghai is dedicated to promoting the integration of the digital economy and the real economy. It's seeking high-quality economic development by building industry networks and smart plants, and empowering the manufacturing industry with the soft power of digitalization.

"The key to the digital economy lies in link and integration," he noted. "We are more than willing to deepen cooperation between Shanghai and Taipei in the industrial sector and share the development opportunities of the digital economy."

Chen Chun-an, commissioner of Taipei's Department of Economic Development, pointed out that the majority of the businesses in Taipei are from traditional industries and the digital economy provides boundless possibilities for development. He hoped that Taipei and Shanghai could learn from each other and cooperate to promote the digital economy to benefit people.