Hangzhou deploys digital technology on Hubin Street. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Digital economy has been a driving force behind Hangzhou's economic transformation and has proved effective in making the city's residents happier.

The city's GDP was 1.54 trillion yuan ($227 billion) in 2019, with the per capita GDP standing at $22,000, putting it at the level of a developed country. Digital economy has undoubtedly played a significant role in achieving this.

Since 2016, when the Hangzhou City Brain system was first launched, the city has been a pioneer in harnessing digital technology to help with city management.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, Hangzhou was the first city to develop a health code system, which has now been used 1.5 billion times. It made valuable contributions to the control of the epidemic.

Hangzhou also developed the "Qingqing Online" system, facilitating direct communication between the government and companies.

So far, the system has distributed 1.33 billion yuan to support and award companies, and more than 150,000 companies have benefited from the system.

Hangzhou is also making efforts to promote big data technology around the city in a bid to provide better public services.

In 2019, Hangzhou's core digital economy industries generated 1.13 trillion yuan in business revenue, up by 19.4 percent from the previous year.