State media reports that Beijing plans to launch a raft of new policies and measures to support the growth of information consumption in China.
Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) indicates that China’s information consumption reached 2.3 trillion yuan in the first half of 2018, for year-on-year growth of 15%, or 2.2 times the national GDP growth rate.
The Chinese government further forecasts that information consumption will reach 6 trillion yuan by 2020 for per annum growth of at least 11%, driving up to 15 trillion yuan of output in related sectors.
Economic Information Daily reports that Beijing plans to deploy fresh measures will seek to “cultivate new growth points in the medium and high-end information consumption sphere, and become a vigorous focal point for future policies.”
Specific measures will include promoting research and development in the areas of smart vehicles, smart transit, smart homes and smart health treatment, as well as other related areas including wearable devices and virtual reality.
Sources from MIIT said that the “Three Year Action Plan for Expanding and Upgrading Information Consumption (2018 – 2020)” (扩大和升级信息消费三年行动计划（2018-2020年）) also indicates that the development of new growth points in the areas of medium and high-end information consumption will be a pillar of future policy.
