(Photo courtesy of the 9th Jiangsu Internet Conference)

The 9th Jiangsu Internet Conference opened in Nanjing, capital of the coastal province, on September 7.

A report released at the conference showed the province's digital economy surpassed 5.1 trillion yuan by the end of last year, ranking second in the country and accounting for 11.8% of the country’s total. The added value of core industries in the digital economy accounted for 10.6% of Jiangsu’s GDP.

Revenue from the electronic information manufacturing, software and IT service and telecommunications reached 3.56 trillion yuan, 1.15 trillion yuan and 113.5 billion yuan respectively, according to the report.

By the end of last year, the number of fixed broadband Internet access ports in the province reached 74.6 million. Jiangsu also expanded its 5G network coverage with 131,000 5G stations already built and 35 million users. It also built 8 dedicated channels for international Internet data transmission, ranking first in the country.

In addition to more than 8,000 high-tech enterprises in the field of electronic information, Jiangsu also had more than 400 key laboratories in various fields, such as mobile communications, Internet of Things and Big Data, and engineering technology research centers at provincial level. The province’s universities opened nearly 500 undergraduate majors related to digital technologies and meanwhile boosted cooperation with innovation resources and industries.

Many large enterprises in Jiangsu have embraced digital transformation for new development. Data showed the province added 12 national-level industrial Internet platforms last year. Jiangsu plans to complete the smart and digital transformation of 57,000 industrial enterprises above designated size within 3 years.