Saudi Arabia topped the list of leading countries in the digital economy, SPA reported, citing Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdullah Alswaha, during his speech to the G20 digital economy ministers’ meeting.

Bridging the digital gap globally is the way to achieve inclusiveness and prosperity of societies, Alswaha said.

Regulations in the field of innovation should be flexible enough to stimulate creativity and keep pace with the rapid pace of change that is driven by digital transformation, he said.

The Green Saudi Arabia and Green Middle East initiatives, launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are an addition to investment in new environment-friendly industries and markets.

NEOM City, the largest global platform for innovators, is an ideal example of harmonizing regulation and innovation, to achieve well-being and preserve the environment through the adaptation of technology and innovation, Alswaha said.

Saudi Arabia took part in a G20 digital economy event on Aug. 5, where ministers discussed key issues related to digital transformation ahead of a final communique that will be endorsed by heads of states and governments at the Rome Summit.

The Kingdom has already realized qualitative achievements in this regard, mainly the unanimous approval of countries on a roadmap to measure and define the digital economy, in addition to adopting artificial intelligence principles.

source: Arab News

تعتبر مصر واحدة من أعلى دول منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا في حجم الاستثمار بالشركات الناشئة، حيث تحتل المركز الثاني في عدد الصفقات الاستثمارية، والمركز الثالث من حيث قيمة تلك الصفقات خلال النصف الأول من عام 2021 بين دول المنطقة بقيمة تزيد عن 123 مليون دولار، فضلًا عن إنها قامت مؤخرا بحصد ثاني أعلى قيمة استثمارية خلال شهر يوليو الماضي – بحسب تقرير ومضة - عند 70.7 مليون دولار عبر 19 صفقة، وهو ما يوضح النمو الهائل لقطاع ريادة الأعمال والاستثمار بالشركات الناشئة؛ بتلك الدولة التي يزيد عدد سكانها عن 100 مليون نسمة، وعن ذلك يقول المهندس "عمرو محفوظ"، الرئيس التنفيذي لهيئة تنمية صناعة تكنولوجيا المعلومات "ايتيدا"، مساعد وزير الاتصالات المصري للتنمية والتطوير: "لقطاع ريادة الأعمال والشركات الناشئة أهمية في دفع النمو الاقتصادي وخلق فرص عمل غير تقليدية وتوفير حلول مبتكرة للتحديات المجتمعية، وكذلك جذب المستثمرين وصناديق رأس مال المخاطر، وهو بالتالي أحد الروافد الرئيسية لتوفير النقد الأجنبي في الاقتصاد المصري، ولذلك نتطلع في هيئة تنمية صناعة تكنولوجيا المعلومات هذا العام إلى تسجيل أكثر من 270 شركة ناشئة جديدة في مصر كما نتوقع أن تجذب الشركات الناشئة تمويلات استثمارية تتخطى حاجز ال 250 مليون دولار، وأضاف "محفوظ" أن الاستثمارات الأجنبية في الشركات المصرية الناشئة تُمثل نسبة 32% من إجمالي الاستثمارات وهي من بين الأعلى في المنطقة مما يعكس ثقة المستثمر الأجنبي وصناديق رأس المال المخاطر العالمية في مناخ ريادة الأعمال والشركات التكنولوجية الناشئة المصرية.

وأكد محفوظ في تصريحات خاصة لـ "ومضة" أن الهيئة تعمل في الوقت الحالي على صياغة استراتيجية خمسية شاملة بالتعاون مع إحدى الشركات العالمية وتضم أربعة محاور عمل هي تمكين وتسهيل بيئة أعمال ريادة الأعمال، وسد فجوة التمويل، والوصول للأسواق العالمية، تنمية وصقل المهارات التقنية المتخصصة.

مركز ريادة أعمال عالمي

أضاف: "نجهز في الوقت الحالي لإطلاق مركز إبداع وريادة أعمال على مستوى عالميMega Innovation hub وسيكون مقره بقصر السلطان حسين بالقاهرة وسيتم إدارته بالكامل من قبل مشغل عالمي، كما قمنا بتجهيز أول مركز إبداع متخصص في صناعة البرمجيات المدمجة للسيارات وتصميم الإلكترونيات وسيكون مقره بمدينة المعرفة بالعاصمة الإدارية الجديدة."، كما تقوم الهيئة بضخ استثمارات موجهة لرعاية الأفكار واحتضانها من خلال عدة برامج منها برنامج "مسرعات الأعمال" Tiec Entrepreneurship Accelerator الذي يقدمه مركز الإبداع التكنولوجي وريادة الأعمال "تيك" بهيئة تنمية صناعة تكنولوجيا المعلومات "ايتيدا".

ثقافة ريادة الأعمال بالجامعات

أما عن خطط تدريب ريادة الأعمال في الجامعات، فأوضح أن الهيئة من خلال مركز الإبداع التكنولوجي وريادة الأعمال "تيك" تنفذ عدد من البرامج لطلبة الجامعات لتدريبهم على مهارات ريادة الأعمال، منها برنامج بناء قدرات الطلبة والخريجين في مجال الإبداع وريادة الأعمال InnovEgypt والذي بدأنا فيه منذ 2013 وصمم البرنامج اعتمادًا على دراسات عالمية لتضمين التعليم الريادي في مناهج الجامعات الدراسية قبيل وبعد التخرج، الأمر الذي يُؤكد دعم الحكومة في توفير التعليم والتدريب على نطاق واسع في مجال الابتكار وريادة الأعمال، ويتم ذلك من خلال تأسيس مجتمعات طلابية من شباب الجامعات والخريجين في المحافظات المختلفة من المتحمسين لفكر وثقافة ريادة الأعمال التي ترتكز على توظيف تكنولوجيا المعلومات والاتصالات.

وعن تأثير مشروعات التحول الرقمي على الشركات الناشئة في مصر، فأكد أن هناك أثر إيجابي لها بالتوازي مع جائحة "كورونا"، حيث ساهما معًا في خلق زخم غير مسبوق في مصر والعالم ايضًا، مما تسبب في لفت الانتباه لكل القطاعات التي تعتمد على التكنولوجيا الرقمية، وهو ما ساعد بدوره في ظهور العديد من الشركات الرقمية الناشئة وخلق لها حافز إضافي للإبداع والابتكار.

أما عن تأثير جائحة "كورونا" على المشاريع الناشئة المصرية، فأوضح أن تداعياتها وأثرها على الشركات الناشئة كانت متفاوتة، فهناك منهم من كانت آثارها ايجابية عليهم وحدث لها نموًا مثل شركات التجارة الإلكترونية، والتكنولوجيا المالية، والتي ازدهرت بصورة كبيرة خلال فترة الجائحة، فلم يحدث إقبال على التعامل عليها بتلك الصورة قبل الجائحة، كذلك لم تنسى الهيئة الشركات التي تأثرت سلبًا بانتشار الجائحة، وقامت بتخصيص دعم مخصص للشركات الناشئة كجزء من برنامج "المساندة الصادرات" لمساعدة تلك الشركات على تخطي تلك الأزمة، حيث تم صرف حوالي 70 مليون جنيه مصري لحوالي 131 شركة مستفيدة من البرنامج.

المصدر: Wamda

The size of the consumer digital economy in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) Mena region is estimated to more than double from around $40-45 billion (Dh147-165 billion) in 2020 to $100 billion (Dh367 billion) by 2023, according to a new report released by consulting firm RedSeer.

The study found that the UAE and Saudi Arabia will continue to be the pillar of the digital economy in Mena, contributing around 70 per cent of the total digital economy.

Today, over 90 per cent of customers in UAE and Saudi Arabia say they bought a retail product online, higher than even some of the more developed markets where digital adoption is around 70 per cent.

The market will see growth both through consumer adoption and a higher frequency of purchases.

“Over the last decade, we have seen significant adoption of online services amongst Mena consumers. More than 60 per cent of consumers are now choosing experiential factors such as service quality, delivery speed and product description in their decision-making. As the digital economy is becoming mainstream, players will have to provide a better experience in addition to discounts to win in the digital economy race,” said Sandeep Ganediwalla, managing partner at RedSeer Consulting.

The study found that the Mena region is seeing one of the most equitable growth in the world. “A strong online omnichannel player ecosystem has successfully gained consumer trust.

On the other hand, supportive policies in UAE enable the ecosystem to attract the right talent and retain it,” said the report.

source: khaleej times

Saudi Arabia’s cabinet has approved a digital economy policy, state news agency SPA reported.
The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha said the policy will be a road map for the Kingdom’s directions for government authorities, the private sector and the international community in fields related to digital economy, the report added.
The digitalization of the economy will encourage investments, increase local technical leadership and attract international partnerships in fields of innovation and digital transformation, SPA said.

Khazna, the UAE's largest supplier of commercial wholesale data centre services, to increase capacity five-fold by 2025

Khazna, the UAE’s largest supplier of commercial wholesale data centre services, has announced major expansion plans to support the country's digital ambitions.

The company said it will build multiple new data centres and increase its capacity five-fold over the next four years to provide vital infrastructure as companies and the government agencies accelerate digitisation.

Khazna operates two data centres in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai with a combined capacity of 40 megawatts, with plans to have a total of 200 megawatts of IT load capacity by 2023.

Multiple new data centres will be built in locations across the UAE and additional capacity will be increased at its current sites.

Hassan Al Naqbi, CEO of Khazna, said: “This significant expansion will support the economic ambitions of the UAE in the coming years.

“The UAE government and private sectors are pressing ahead with digital transformation, which has gathered pace in the last year through necessity. The experience of remote working and the growth of online services during the global pandemic has underlined the importance of robust, state-of-the-art digital infrastructure."

He added: "Demand for flexible, scalable and secure data storage is increasing rapidly, and this trend will continue as smart city and smart government projects gather momentum, cloud computing adoption grows and 5G networks are rolled out.”

Khazna, which was established in 2012, has grown rapidly into one of the leading data centre providers in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Khazna said with the focus on enabling hyperscalers, its new data centres will ensure that market demands are fully met while maintaining customer satisfaction excellence and trust.

source: arabianbusiness

Khazna, the UAE's largest supplier of commercial wholesale data centre services, to increase capacity five-fold by 2025

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) governments seeking to diversify their economies and position for growth are rightly focused on the importance of digitization. However, scale and sustainability require serious attention to associated risks. While digitization—both of private sector activities and of government services—has for some time been viewed as central to these efforts, the coronavirus pandemic accelerated the process.

At the same time, governments need to establish effective protections for the digital economy to gain scale and become sustainable.

Digitization is central to transformation programs underway as GCC governments seek to wean their economies from dependence on oil and gas

The case is compelling: digital activity grows faster than other parts of the economy. For example, the United Kingdom’s (UK) analysis estimates that growth in the digital sector in 2018 was nearly six times larger than that of the country’s economy as a whole. Moreover, the digital revolution offers a unique opportunity to leapfrog decades of gradual development and gain a foothold in industries that have long been the preserve of more mature economies.

Take financial services as an example. Several GCC countries have ambitions to rise to the ranks of top global financial centers. In each case, the attraction and promotion of Financial Technology or FinTech is a critical or central component of their sector strategies. In addition to establishing tailored regulations—e.g. digital bank licenses—and dedicated environments—e.g. sandboxes—authorities provide technology infrastructure, support human capital development, orchestrate collaboration, and provide financing, among other measures. For instance, Abu Dhabi is the site of a large annual FinTech Festival. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia recently used the platform provided by its G20 Presidency to host a global TechSprint in cooperation with the Bank for International Settlements.

Governments are investing substantially in a focused and coordinated approach

Saudi Arabia’s National Digital Transformation Unit (NDTU) is one of the fundamental programs to achieve Vision 2030. Its mission is to build a world-class digital infrastructure and enable innovative talent to seize opportunities. To that end, NDTU cooperates with digital transformation partners across public and private sectors to support and accelerate digital transformation.

While it remains to be seen whether global leadership can be realized, the strategic direction is plausible and builds on promising foundations. Though GCC countries lag leading countries in the 2020 Portulans Institute’s Network Readiness Index at the aggregate level (UAE ranks at #30, Qatar at #38, and Saudi Arabia at #41), they rank much higher on information and communications technology (ICT) usage and skills among individuals (UAE ranks #1, Qatar #10, and Saudi Arabia #12) and access to ICT (Qatar ranks at #2, UAE at #10, and Saudi Arabia at #19 ). Notably, Saudi Arabia is the world leader in terms of internet access in schools and #4 in terms of government promotion of investment in emerging technologies.

The pandemic has accelerated the already prevalent digitization trend

Working from home and virtual meetings have quickly become accepted practices in the region and many professionals have commented on improved meeting discipline and efficiencies. In the meantime, online commerce, entertainment streaming, and social media offerings are all booming.

Indeed, more than eight in ten mobile phone users believe that internet-connected technologies have helped them cope during the pandemic, enabling them to support their children’s education (76 percent), stay in touch with friends and family (74 percent), and even improve their mental health and wellbeing (43 percent).

While it is evident that adoption of technology has significant advantages, there are also important risks

The most frequently discussed categories are related to information security and the abuse of personal data. The Global Risks Report, which Marsh & McLennan publishes in partnership with the World Economic Forum, has listed “Data Theft and Fraud” among the top five most likely risks for multiple years. Governments in some countries have put in place the legal and regulatory infrastructure to deal with these.

Oliver Wyman’s Cyber Risk Literacy and Education Index shows GCC governments mounting an effective policy response to the problem (especially Saudi Arabia at #9, Qatar at #13 in the Government Policy dimension, and the UAE #18 in the aggregate ranking).

However, awareness is growing of a much wider set of issues to guard against. These include but are by no means limited to:

• The Digital divide is the gap between those who have ready access to computers and the internet—as well as associated opportunities—and those that do not. This shows up at different levels of aggregation. For instance, the most digitally advanced countries have been so for many years running, implying that there is a structural disadvantage that is hard to break. At a more local level, the pandemic has highlighted how children without access to technology have missed out on months of formal instruction, creating a gap they may struggle to fill.
• Digital illiteracy, as in the inability to find, evaluate, and compose clear information through writing and other media on various digital platforms. This is correlated with the digital divide but is still separate, as access to technology does not guaranty the ability to use it effectively. It shows up, for instance, when users buy into and act on baseless conspiracy theories like “Pizzagate,” which nearly led to tragedy in 2016.
• Online harms, such as disinformation, the promotion of terrorist and violent content, and trading in illegal goods. The first of these was on full display in recent US presidential elections, with adversaries and domestic forces seeking to tip the scales or even undermine the very credibility of the democratic process and the country’s global leadership.
• Risks related to the inappropriate deployment of artificial intelligence, with a lack of transparency and agency. As SpaceX Founder and CEO Elon Musk puts it: “We’re headed toward a situation where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is vastly smarter than humans and I think that time frame is less than five years from now. But that doesn’t mean that everything goes to hell in five years. It just means that things get unstable or weird.”
• Risk related to monopoly power, as a small number of tech giants—such as Facebook and Amazon—have become the world’s most valuable companies without formal and structured government oversight. In particular, Big Tech players leverage access to large client pools and the convenience of integrated technology to peel off the most attractive parts of the financial services value chain.
  Digitization strategies will only be scalable and sustainable if associated risks are effectively managed

This calls for debate, both at the national and international level, on what solutions are available to public and private sectors to achieve this outcome.

In some countries and organizations, the conversation on how to manage these risks is well underway. For instance, the UK’s Online Harms White Paper—currently under review—sets out a program of action to tackle content or activity that harms individual users, particularly children, or threatens the country’s way of life—either by undermining national security or by undermining shared rights, responsibilities, and opportunities. Meanwhile, the European Commission has issued Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, which address societal and ethical concerns related to artificial intelligence and reflects similar edicts originating in Australia, Singapore, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, among others.

If GCC countries want to play a leading role in shaping the digital economy’s future and make it the foundation of their economic transformations, they need to tackle these risks head on. Saudi Arabia is off to a good start. The Kingdom recently established the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority with the mandate of developing the performance of the public and private sectors through utilizing the application of AI and Big Data. Its strategy includes the inaction of “the most welcoming legislation for Data & AI businesses and talents.” The strategy refers to developing a regulatory framework that will cover “data collection, classification, sharing, open data policy, and freedom of information.” Indeed, interim regulations are already in effect, and the reference to the future development of a regulatory framework indicates that these regulations will be refined in the coming months and years.

As they develop their policies, GCC governments should consider five principles:

1. Industry specific governance with a common philosophy
With digital technology infusing most sectors of the economy, it is not practical to think that all aspects can be regulated by a single authority. A patchwork of sector-specific regulators will pick up many practical issues related to technology. What is important is that there are a common philosophy and set of principles that unite the full framework, as well as a map that shows how the patchwork comes together and allows the government to identify any over or underlaps.

2. Develop standards-based regulations
Tech firms’ innovations and the risks that accompany them are evolving so rapidly that it’s easy for regulators to fall behind. Standards-based regulatory regimes capable of adapting to technological and social change could help a tech regulator get out in front and stay there.

Standards can be reworked for new risks, but changes to regulations and laws require extensive public consultation. With a standards-based approach, a tech regulator can introduce guidelines to encourage sensible innovation or, conversely, swiftly hold tech firms accountable when unforeseen risks arise.

3. Prioritize activity based on risk
Tech firms constantly introduce new apps, software, and hardware, and there is a real chance that an increasingly cash-strapped government will not be able to afford adequate staffing to properly enforce new regulations. A tech regulator would need to use a risk-based approach to target firms and activities that put the most people at risk first and rank the spectrum of potential threats.

The degree of supervisory intrusiveness should be commensurate with the size of the potential risks that companies pose. Big companies will require dedicated in-house supervisory teams, while much smaller teams can oversee primarily automated data-driven reports from startups. This ensures startups are not unfairly disadvantaged due to high costs of regulatory compliance.

4. Innovation-friendly bias
As ever with regulation, governments need to manage a delicate balance between offering businesses the space to experiment and innovate while providing guard rails to support policy objectives and make the sector’s development sustainable. The cost of compliance with well-intended regulation can constitute a significant barrier to new market entry and, thus, stifle innovation—a reality that large incumbents are only too happy to perpetuate. Financial sector regulators have experimented with Sandboxes and TechSprints as ways to encourage innovation and avoid conflict with important policy objectives.

5. Digital by default
Machine executable regulations, integrated data platforms, and reporting application programming interfaces should be part of the standard operating model from day one to reduce the cost of compliance for companies while increasing risk management efficiency. By replacing quarterly reports with technology platforms that permit regulators to pull information related to key risk indicators from companies’ systems directly, regulators will be able to monitor companies more proficiently.

In the GCC, as elsewhere in the world, the digital revolution is well on its way. Indeed, its importance is uniquely heightened by the critical role it plays across sectors to diversify and transform national economies. Not surprisingly, GCC governments are focused on measures that promote digitization on all fronts.
They would do well to recognize that identification and proactive management of associated risks will contribute to ensuring benefits are broad-based, inclusive, and sustainable.

source: atlanticcouncil

The programme encompasses a unique collaboration between the EU, the Jordanian government and the private sector.

In collaboration with Jordan’s Ministry of Planning & International Cooperation and Ministry of Digital Economy & Entrepreneurship, the European Union has pulled the trigger on the ‘Innovate Jordan’ programme, which comes as the latest in a consistent EU support for the country’s innovation industry.

The EU is set to invest EUR20 million into promoting new initiatives that can “unlock entrepreneurship and innovation potential and enhance job creation and growth in Jordan.”

With the ultimate aim of enabling local companies and startups to become competitive on an international stage and drive forward Jordan’s digital economy, the programme’s first effects will be felt through the support of three new grant initiatives in collaboration with private sector entities.

The first, in collaboration with Endeavour, will target 45 local businesses for growth and scaling, with a view to equipping them with the tools to attract foreign investment and emerge on international markets.

The second, will see SAM Engineering take the lead on the establishment of Jordan’s first digitisation and innovation centre with the aim of promoting digital solutions in the world of manufacturing.

The third and final initiative is in collaboration with Orange and will establish a host of facilities across Jordan, including 23 digital centres, six coding academies, six FabLabs, six growth accelerators and three incubators.

For the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, the programme is a perfect fit for the drive towards fully-digitised government services and digitally-enabled income opportunities. 

“We are committed to empowering the citizens and residents of Jordan in their digital journey across sectors and industries,” Minister Muthana Gharaibeh said.

“Our alignment with ‘Innovate Jordan’ will ensure motivating and inspiring people to produce change by maximizing the impact of financial and non-financial incentive programmes in place.”

source: thestartupscene

Melita Delos Reyes began her career early, as she worked as a clerk for a big real estate company in Manila, Philippines, but Milet’s ambition pushed her to leave her job to pursue a Degree in Business Administration at Philippine Christian University in 1996.

After graduation Milet worked in the field of Marketing and Sales in several companies. In 2006, she decided to travel to Dubai to work for Alpha UK Training. She worked mainly in the Admin and Operations Department and proactively supported the Marketing and Sales Department. She was in charge of coordinating training logistics and documentation, database management, supplier management, admin tasks and safekeeping of office documents, accounts, and liaising with coaches and various speakers around the world.

The Swiss-Arab Entrepreneur Platform: The massive spread of social media platforms put entrepreneurs in front of an opportunity to choose the best way to market their products through it, but the multi-channel marketing process is very expensive. In your opinion, is working on all platforms the best option, or choosing one channel?

Melita: Entrepreneurs leverage on the impact of Social Media to their business. A robust social media marketing strategy is crucial to drive traffic to your website, build brand awareness and community. While it’s good to increase visibility on different social media platforms, you have to consider what kind of products or services you’re offering and where your target market usually hangs out. Example, if you are an Ecommerce Business, the best way is to be visible on Facebook and consider FB ads.

If you’re into coaching or consulting business, Linkedin is the best platform to boost your online presence and build your brand. Linkedin is the best social selling platform for B2B and B2C companies. Content Marketing Institute found that 63% of marketers rated LinkedIn as the most effective B2B social media platform.

According to Sprout Social “With the exponentially increasing popularity of digital media channels, traditional lead generation is becoming a thing of the past—creating more opportunity for B2B and B2C businesses to drive leads and increase sales now than ever before.”

Using Linkedin, it is easy target your ideal market and create a lead generation system. professional people, decision makers, entrepreneurs and high level executives.

Swiss- Arab Entrepreneur Platform: With your project, you focus on digital marketing on LinkedIn, why did you choose this platform over others? What defines the LinkedIn platform?

Melita:

• Linkedin has over 600 million + users across the globe.

It is a pool of professional people, decision makers, entrepreneurs, high level executives, influencer and affluent people.

• Linkedin is well suited for personal branding and creates more opportunity for B2B and B2C business.
• It is considered the number 1 platform for lead generation. It is built for business networking, a goldmine if utilized properly. :)
• Linkedin has robust search and targeting features to help you find the right people and businesses.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneur Platform: How Do You Plan On Growing Your Business?

Melita: Consistency is the key to grow your business. Need to maximize the use of Social Media especially Linkedin Marketing to grow my business and followers.

I’m planning to add more services to serve my clients such as Email Copywriting or Email Marketing to nurture leads and better serve my clients.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneur Platform: Can you tell us more about the digital marketing services provided by your (project?) team?

Melita:We are a complete 1 stop Marketing Agency because we have huge network of Marketing Professionals. We can help you stand out from your competitor, get more leads and clients and scale your business fast.

We have Brand Strategists, Graphics designers, Virtual Assistants, Social Media Managers, Facebook Ads Experts, Website Designers, Copywriters etc. 

Our team is passionate in helping entrepreneurs grow their business by crafting a strategy plan that solves business challenges.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneur Platform: What advice can you give to new entrepreneurs to make their personal pages appear better on the LinkedIn platform?

Melita: If you’re a startup company or a new entrepreneur, it is best to build your personal branding in Linkedin. In the first few months, you have to build your credibility so that your ideal clients can trust and like you. First step is to optimize your profile so that you will rank higher in search engines and to generate more profile views.

Remember that your profile is your online business card that could be your asset in generating appointments, quality leads and high-ticket clients.

Have clarity on what you offer and think how your service can solve your target market problems.

Second, growing your business in Linkedin must be a priority and not a hobby. Remember that Linkedin is a Social Selling platform so you have to build and nurture relationships.

Let me share my Linkedin growth hacks that could help new or existing entrepreneurs.

The digital economy now accounts for one-third of China's total economic aggregate. And its further development will help the country seize the opportunities created by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and gain comparative advantages in international competition.

The global economy is undergoing restructuring, and there is a broad international consensus that emerging digital technologies can foster new economic growth points and create new competitive advantages. Given the advantage of a large-scale market, a complete industrial system, an innovation-led internet ecosystem and several other positive factors, developing the digital economy is an inevitable choice for China to adapt to and lead the global economic development trend.

Digital economy vital to supply-side reform

The development of the digital economy will accelerate China's supply-side structural reform, which in turn will facilitate the replacement of old growth drivers with new ones, and create a new engine for its high-quality development. The digital economy involves digital industrialization and industrial digitalization.

The extensive use of new generation information technology has led to the emergence of new organizations, and new models of businesses, creating more and more economic growth points. With the digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of industries, the new trend of integrated development has accumulated fresh vigor.

The digital economy's development can help China better meet people's growing needs for a better life. The sales figures of many Chinese e-commerce companies during online shopping festivals have reached new highs with each passing year, which shows the rapid development of the digital economy has not only enriched people's lives, but also helped consumption upgrading. In 2019, China's online retail sales added up to 10.6 trillion yuan ($1.48 trillion), accounting for 20.7 percent of the country's total retail sales of consumer goods.

The development of the digital economy will also help hedge the uncertainty caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak, and create a macroeconomic "tool" to stabilize China's economic fundamentals, generate more jobs, help ease market players' hardships and revive the industrial and supply chains.

The pre-outbreak economic downturn had already created huge employment pressure, and the epidemic has made it all the more urgent for China to take measures to ease this pressure. A stable job market is vital to people's well-being and a manifestation of China's economic resilience－while promoting steady economic growth is mainly aimed at securing employment. And the fact that the digital economy has larger employment capacity makes it very important.

Large numbers of flexible jobs

According to official data, the digital economy created 191 million jobs in China in 2018－accounting for nearly 25 percent of the total employment generated that year－an increase of 11.5 percent year-on-year, which was significantly higher than the country's total employment growth rate. Some large internet enterprises have already built a number of platforms to promote digital technology-based innovation, which will add more vitality to entrepreneurship and create a large number of flexible jobs.

The digital economy has also fostered many new forms of businesses and business opportunities, while many digital economy platforms have provided infrastructure for employment and entrepreneurship, giving people more employment choices.

To overcome the difficulties created by the outbreak and turn the crisis into an opportunity, many enterprises have accelerated their digital transformation and intelligent upgrading. Enterprises that have achieved digital transformation enjoy a big advantage in resuming production and realizing timely transition in production.

Digital transformation and intelligent upgrading have also helped many small and medium-sized enterprises to embark on the path of "specialization and innovation", which has significantly increased their risk-resistance capability, and ensured the stability of the country's industrial and supply chains.

Digital technology can also be deeply integrated with financial services, fiscal and tax support systems, so as to more effectively help market players to overcome difficulties.

Intelligent manufacturing and industrial internet

Thanks to the development of digital economy and the new industrial revolution, many countries have made the important strategic choice of developing intelligent manufacturing and industrial internet. And China's transitioning from consumption-focused internet to industry-focused internet, shifting from the consumer sector to the industrial sector.

As a new application model that integrates new generation information and communications technology (ICT) with the industrial economy, industrial internet is an important innovation-driven development strategy and a cornerstone of the digital economy.

The profound changes in the manufacturing industry model and enterprises brought about by industrial internet will promote China's industrial transformation and upgrading, and facilitate its march toward the middle-to high-end of the global value chain.

To better develop industrial internet, there should be smooth coordination between the government and the market, with the market playing a decisive role in resource allocation. And laws and regulations on intellectual property rights, data transfer and security, and policy incentives should be improved to create a favorable business environment.

Safeguarding cybersecurity, cultivating more talents

While developing the digital economy, it's also important to safeguard cyberspace security. So China needs to increase investment in order to strengthen cybersecurity, ensure safety of big data, launch a publicity campaign to reinforce the sense of security among governments at different levels and enterprises, and recruit more talents in the cybersecurity sector.

In the era of digital economy, recruiting high-level talents, as well as qualified and skilled people, especially those with expertise in specific areas, is very important. Universities, enterprises and research institutions need to nurture more ICT talents with multiple skills.

School and college syllabuses should be designed to cultivate the passion for science and innovation among students. And measures should be taken to provide more training for workers so they can meet the demands of the emerging sectors.

Besides, international cooperation is key to consolidating the global supply chain, and to lead economic globalization, digital economy needs to play a bigger role in integrating labor, capital and technology, for which multilateral communication, international cooperation in research, and global digital economy governance will be very important.

source: global.chinadaily

   The Digital Economy is no longer a just a concept, but rather an operational reality for more and more firms, research firm IDC told its attendees at its annual Directions conference this week. In a variety of presentations, analysts discussed how technology is impacting enterprises and the overall economy, with the research firm predicting that within three years, more than half of global GDP will be driven by "digitally transformed" enterprises.

Because of concerns about the coronavirus, the conference was held online, and IDC President Crawford Del Prete said the group now expects that IT growth in 2020 will probably end up at 2.5 to 3 percent, a couple points lower than the firm was expecting before the virus outbreak.

Del Prete said the digital economy is increasingly being driven by more powerful platforms, with ecosystems gaining lots of developers, as well as buy-in from major enterprises. As a result, he said innovation has accelerated, particularly the ability to target the specific needs of customers.

We are moving to a more data driven world, but success involves transforming data into insights. Customers today expect engagement, personalization and simplicity, and it is incumbent among suppliers to provide these capabilities.

He described the "fast five" big trends of today's digital economy.

AI is everywhere, with the technologies being incorporated into more and more products. Everyone is a developer, with more people able to create applications and more applications being created today than ever.

The cloud is no long seen as a location, but rather as a platform, which includes edge devices and needs to be managed. Trust now includes more than just security. Customers want to work with you to create automated solutions as quickly as possible.

Riffing off the common comment that "data is the new oil," he said, "Data will no longer be viewed as 'oil,' but as water. It is essential for life but needs to be accessible and clean."

For the full text, please read:

source: uk.pcmag