(Yicai) Sept. 5 -- Shanghai's Qingpu district is making great strides to connect industrial chains to accelerate the development of the digital economy.

The western district of the eastern megacity proposes forming a "digital trunk line" in the Yangtze River Delta to create a belt of digital innovation that drives regional development, Yang Xiaojing, deputy secretary of the district's communist party committee, said during a conference today.

Qingpu suggests 12 actions to speed up the digital economy such as improving digital infrastructure and the quality of industrial parks, as well as building industrial chains. It also supports the construction of key hubs such as the China BeiDou Industrial Technology Innovation West Hongqiao Base, the West Shanghai Software Information Park, and the Qingpu New City Digital Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Community. Moreover, it suggests digitizing research and development, production, trade, as well as services, including logistics.

Some of the companies and institutions that are spearheading digital innovation in Qingpu include Huawei Technologies, NetEase, Midea, Fudan International Integrated Innovation Center, and Shanghai Data Group. Telecoms giant Huawei may complete building an R&D center by year-end and bring from 30,000 to 40,000 research talents to the area.

Qingpu's gross domestic product tallied CNY65.5 billion (USD9 billion) in the first half, rising by 15 percent from a year ago. Its fiscal revenue amounted to CNY14.1 billion, up by 18 percent, according to official data. Revenues of large software and information technology enterprises in the district surged by 45 percent and those of integrated circuit firms jumped by 47 percent.

Editor: Emmi Laine