As the only national-level zone in Shandong province, Qingdao West Coast New Area has always shouldered the important task of being a promoter, leader and innovator in the development of the region's digital economy.

From January to August this year, the area's revenue from core industries of the digital economy was 32.78 billion yuan ($5.13 billion), a year-on-year increase of 23.8 percent.

Its revenue from the software and information technology service industry recorded 2.74 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56.7 percent, which was about 30 percentage points higher than the city.

As of the end of August, a total of 4,717 5G base stations had been built to achieve continuous 5G signal coverage in key areas and main roads across urban areas. The number of 5G base stations and the coverage of 5G signals are the highest of anywhere in the province.

In recent years, the area has adhered to the "two-wheel drive" of digital industrialization and industrial digitalization, promoted the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, and created a new growth pole for economic development.

Sun Yonghong, member of the standing committee of the city's Party committee and Party secretary of the area, said it is necessary to accelerate the digital economy, enrich 5G technology application scenarios, and promote the standardized output of technology, equipment, and scenarios.

"We should cultivate a complete semiconductor and optoelectronic display industry chain, focus on personnel training, optimize the industrial ecology and expand the scale of the "core screen economy".

The development of the digital economy and the advancement of infrastructure are vital to stabilizing economic growth in the wake of the epidemic.

Qianwan Port is an automated container terminal in Qingdao, with unmanned terminal-guided vehicles shuttling back and forth. It is the first fully automated container terminal in Asia.

Relying on independent innovation of 5G technology, it has formed the "Qingdao Model" that can be replicated, promoted and commercialized, and continues to lead the world, setting a "Chinese benchmark".

"The automated equipment that runs in an orderly manner on the terminal requires a very smooth 5G network support, which in turn requires a special layout of 5G base stations," said Zhang Hongwei, general manager of China Mobile's Qingdao development zone branch.

This is just a microcosm. The rich 5G technology application scenarios are blooming everywhere in the West Coast New Area. There are a total of 369 open scenes in the region, including 250 industrial empowerment scenes and 44 future cities scenes.

To consolidate the development base of the digital economy, the area focuses on constructing three major digital new infrastructures.

One is the urban gigabit optical fiber network and 5G network infrastructure in key areas such as Qianwan Port, 5G High-tech Video Industry Park, Beer City.

The new area is also accelerating the construction of an industry-level identification analysis application platform, promoting information sharing and transactions between enterprises, and boosting the deployment of tires and supply chain management.

Industrialization and industrial digitalization are the main lines, based on the establishment of a new dual-cycle development pattern, focusing on the digital industry, real economy empowerment, digital infrastructure construction and digital scene application.

A leading company in the industry, Yisa is committed to the research, development and application of artificial intelligence and big data technology in safe city and smart city construction.

Yao Wei, vice-president of the company, said the company has not only played an important role in promoting the extension of the digital economy in the West Coast New Area, but also enhanced the visibility of the new area in the national digital economy.

As a well-known artificial intelligence company, iFlytek has incubated 112 enterprises, trained more than 2,000 talents in the artificial intelligence industry, and built a new digital economy system.

As the pioneer of youth entrepreneurship in Macao, Extreme Vision, founded in 2015, is a professional AI and computer vision algorithm provider. It is also the leading computer vision algorithm platform in China.

The Extreme Vision technology platform has gathered 200,000 algorithm developers and will help Qingdao build the country's leading AI innovation highland and AI application innovation source.

Workers assemble components at an intelligent production line in Qingdao West Coast New Area. GAO YINGJUN/FOR CHINA DAILY