Hangzhou's Qiantang district recently announced its "Manufacturing Industry Digital Universe and Digital Economy 3-Year Action Plan", local media reported on March 3.

The plan aims to double the size of the digital economy within three years and would involve Hangzhou authorities collaborating with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to build the "Manufacturing Industry Digital Universe Center" in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Qiantang district will leverage the "Manufacturing Industry Digital Universe Center" to create digital universe-enabled manufacturing industry formats. These formats include smart parks, intelligent logistics, future factories, digital twin virtual factories, virtual studios, and cloud exhibitions.

At the Qiantang District Digital Economy and Modern Service Innovation Development Conference on Feb 27, experts demonstrated how the digital universe can benefit the automotive manufacturing industry.

Through simulations, researchers can test autonomous driving technology in a variety of scenarios, including extreme weather conditions. The digital universe enables greater efficiency and accuracy in research and development while reducing cost, said experts.

In 2022, Qiantang district's core digital economy industry generated a revenue of 70.9 billion yuan ($10.17 billion), a 7.4 percent year-on-year increase.

By 2025, the district's core digital economy industry is expected to have a revenue of more than 120 billion yuan, with revenue from software and information services exceeding 30 billion yuan.