Digital industry plays a bigger role in economic growth

China's digital economy, which uses internet technologies to empower industries and reshape people's lives, accounted for a third of the nation's GDP in 2018, a report tracking the sector's development said.

The volume of the nation's digital economy expanded to 29.9 trillion yuan ($4.33 trillion) last year, up 12 percent from 2017 and faster than the country's GDP growth, a Digital China Index Report by the research arm of Tencent Holdings Ltd said.

"Such robust expansion is conducive to stabilizing growth, adjusting economic structure and enhancing quality at a time when the economy encountered external uncertainties," said the report published during the three-day Tencent Global Digital Ecosystem Summit that runs through Thursday.

The report examined the level of digitalization from the lens of industry, consumption and civic services. It found that digitalization has a profound impact on traditional industries and is exerting a positive influence on employment.

For example, every extra score gained in the index has resulted in an addition of 660,000 to 2.39 million people to become newly employed. In certain regions, the proportion of newly-hired people engaged in the digital economy reached 40 percent or more.

"The ' main battlefield' of the digital economy has shifted from consumption-oriented internet to industrial internet, which has shown the fastest growth and highest level of concentration," said Tencent President Martin Lau.

The most digitalized cities in China are Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai. Lower-tier cities are catching up fast, with the index gauging the digitalization of industries jumping 216.6 percent year-on-year in these areas. The use of cloud computing has also quadrupled in the past year in central and western China.

Companies like Tencent have been pushing ahead with technologies to revolutionize industries from healthcare to retail. For instance, digital means have been applied to reshape the medical registration process, conduct online training for doctors and assist them with diagnosis using artificial intelligence, said Tencent Vice-President Ding Ke.

Modern retail is also being redefined to boost sales by digitalizing offline services and acquire new customers through the launch of new online shops and the addition of new touch points.

For instance, Walmart saw its sales in brick-and-mortar stores surge by 50 percent and online sales double in the first month after the adoption of WeChat Mini Program, according to Davis Lin, Tencent's vicepresident who also oversees the smart retail business unit.

Companies like Wiwide are providing smart cameras to track visitor flows in a shopping mall and leverage data analysis on customer profiles to offer suggestions to vendors on promotions, ads and customer service, said Hao Qing, vice-president for the company's visual product innovation center.

Modern agriculture/farming is highly technical, and the growing digitization and technological advancement are further transforming the farming industry. The agriculture industry has been effectively exploiting the power that big data can bring to the operations. Software and algorithm are being created to pull essential data. This data is helping farms to improve farm profitability, increase farm sustainability, and enhance yield. Use of various equipment, software, remote sensors, and drones have automated data collection methods. According to AgFunder, globally over US$ 4.6 Bn was invested in food and agriculture technology in 2015. Large share of the investment was for software and other technological solutions to enhance digital agriculture.

Digitization of farming is expected to help feed the growing population. Global population is expected to increase by about 40% and reach 9.6 billion by 2050. Therefore, the overall food production needs to double to meet the rising demand for food. The current production rate, process, and distribution method would not be sufficient to feed the growing population; thus, adoption of new and advanced technology, at various levels of farming, is expected to become vital to meet the growing demand.

Digital farming in a nutshell is the use of information technology in agriculture. It largely involves the use of connected devices and machinery and other digital technologies to improve yield. From precision farming, livestock monitoring, to greenhouse farming, connected devices and software contributes to all vital applications of farming.

Networked farm sensors monitor the amount of harvested produce in storage. This data provides farmers with an accurate idea about their stock.