Prof. Xiaolan Fu, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (ACSS) and Director of the Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD), gave keynote speeches on the topic of how the digitalization of services influences trade and development at two international conferences.

Themed “Embrace a Digital Future—New Factors, New Rules, New Patterns”, the Global Digital Economy Conference 2022 opened at the China National Convention Center in Beijing on 29th July 2022. The conference was hosted by the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the China Association for Science and Technology.

Prof. Fu gave a keynote speech entitled “Digitalization of Services: What Does It Imply to Trade and Development?”. She introduced the important role of services in economic growth and structural transformation and proposed two stages of digital transformation of the service industry. The first stage was the growth of existing e-services and e-commerce activities. The second stage was additional new possibilities resulting from the digital technology revolution, such as ‘telepresence’, ‘telerobotics’, and other breakthroughs in scope, volume, and accessibility.

Prof. Fu also introduced the latest trends in trade and the application of digitally deliverable services (DDS) and the opportunities and challenges in promoting DDS. Prof. Fu said that China had a good human and resource endowment in developing the digital economy after more than 40 years of reform and opening up and digital construction.

She concluded by stressing the importance of the digitization and transformation of services in the post-pandemic era. The digitization of services will become an important engine and channel for global economic recovery. In terms of policy formulation, it is necessary to adopt a “whole-of-government approach” in policymaking, enhance trust and confidence in digital service trade, promote innovation and entrepreneurship and multi-stakeholder cooperation, improve digital competencies through a public-private partnership, and strengthen international dialogue on trade rules.

                      Prof. Xiaolan Fu speaks on the digitalization of services

At the UNCTAD multi-year expert meeting on Trade, Services and Development on 5th July, during the session entitled “The potential for diversification towards and through digitally deliverable services”, Prof. Fu also discussed several important related issues based on the UNCTAD survey. The topics discussed during this session included “How has trade in digitally deliverable services contributed to economic diversification and resilience?”, “In which way have digitally deliverable services contributed to the diversification of other activities, for example through knowledge transfer, online education, etc.?”, and “What are the conditions of infrastructure, regulations and skills that support better supply capacity in information and communications technologies and digitally deliverable services, to harvest their transformative potential?” Click here for more information.