Exploring "Digitalization" Further
In summary, apart from the international internet, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchains (BC), Cloud Computing (CC), Big Data (BD), and the Internet of Things (IoT) (collectively referred to as "ABCDI"), these new generations of digital technologies emerged at the beginning of the 21st century, injecting new technological impetus into the three major industries. At this stage, the manufacturing industry urgently needs to deeply transform its own business based on digital technologies such as ABCDI and continuously integrate the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain; financial enterprises such as banks, driven by the manufacturing and service industries, have begun to attempt digital financial innovation. As the three major industries deeply integrate the international internet and new generations of digital technologies such as ABCDI with their business, the concept of "digital economy" has gained new connotations. Scholars at home and abroad have gradually regarded the "digital economy" as a product of the deep integration of the internet, ABCDI, and other digital technologies with the economy, and have understood the "digital economy" from the two dimensions of digital industrialization and industrial digitization. In 2016, the G20 Hangzhou Summit defined the "digital economy" as "a series of economic activities that use digital knowledge and information as key factors of production, modern information networks as important carriers, and the effective use of information and communication technology (ICT) as an important driving force for improving efficiency and optimizing the economic structure."
The digital economy, based on the international internet and new generations of digital technologies such as ABCDI, is hailed as a new technological economic paradigm and a new economic form following the agricultural and industrial economies. It is permeating all fields of the social economy and reshaping the global economic landscape, becoming a new engine for economic growth and a new source of international competitive advantage. Therefore, countries around the world are vigorously developing the digital economy. Unlike e-commerce based on the international internet, the digital economy equipped with new generations of digital technologies such as ABCDI not only promotes the online business of enterprises but also makes the business more intelligent due to the technological support of artificial intelligence and big data. In other words, the "digitalization" we are discussing now is not only about conducting business based on the international internet but also needs to integrate new generations of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data to enhance the intelligence and data-driven nature of the business. Of course, today's digitalization still continues the characteristics of networking, integration, and agility from the previous stage.
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IV. Summary
Finally, let's summarize a few points. First, digitalization is a concept with a relatively long history. Looking at the connotation of "digital computers" and their penetration into the economic field, the essence of digitalization is the process of enterprises deeply integrating digital technologies (computer technologies based on digital signals) with their production and business activities, and this process can be traced back to the 1950s. Second, the digital economy is a historical category with increasingly rich connotations. Since the concept of the "digital economy" was proposed in 1996, its connotation has been enriched, evolving from the "internet economy" to the "digital economy" driven by the internet and new generations of digital technologies such as ABCDI. Third, the international internet remains an indispensable technological driving force for digitalization and the digital economy. Some scholars divide the global economy into three stages: the information economy, the internet economy, and the digital economy. In fact, the current digital economy still cannot do without the support of the international internet. Therefore, we believe that the international internet remains an indispensable technological driving force for digitalization and the digital economy. Of course, it cannot be denied that since the 2008 global financial crisis, the digitalization of the three major industries based on the internet and new generations of digital technologies such as ABCDI has an essential difference from the digitalization before 2008, and the digital economy at this stage is also vastly different from the "internet economy."