Digitalization Initiatives In China And US
With the rapid changes to the technologies in today’s world, many find it hard to incorporate these in their daily lives. Yet, it is even harder for digital illiterate group of people to even adopt the changes, because of lack of the exposure or limited interest infrastructure to the digital basis. To counter this issues, many countries’ government is coming up with initiatives to prepare its citizens and industries to be technology ready so that, they can enjoy and leverage the benefits of the latest technologies. As China is transitioning to become digital and services sector from manufacturing sector (Hsu 2017), the Chinese government has introduced Internet Plus initiative in 2015, to incorporate technologies into different industries to have better efficiency and promotes economic growth (Hristov 2017). The government has come up with 4-step plan (GovInsider 2016) where online public services are available by 2017; integrate public services with third party platforms; data transparency laws; government to increase digital services to more secluded areas. By tapping Weibo and WeChat, the government can directly connect with majority of the citizens through these platforms efficiently through e-services (Yang 2017). In addition, the government also made use of this initiative to promote integrated rural development by focusing on agriculture industries (The State Council The People's Republic of China 2018).
The initiative can farmers reach out to more buyers through e-commerce platforms by enhancing the existing internet infrastructure; trainings will be provided for farmers to utilise certain software applications to market their products online. It is effective because Internet Plus has covered many industries. With the initiative, by promoting to its citizens to use Internet in their day-to-day life, it creates demands for purchasing, research and development, usage of digital products (be it software or hardware), which leads to more business opportunities and its digital economy continues to prosper (The State Council The People's Republic Of China 2018). As for agriculture, with the rise of e-commerce, one-third of the online retail sales in rural areas goes to agro-products (The State Council The People's Republic of China 2018). The figure is expected to rise over the next few years due to expansion of Internet infrastructure and increase in e-commerce activities. Due to the plan, there will be demands for incorporating IT in different sectors and industries. Top domestic technology players like Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent (with total combined revenue of US$87 billion and still growing) (South China Morning Post 2018), are coming up with new innovated products and services by using their existing high-technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data. With these new products that are going to be in the future market, users must have some basic technology fundamentals before they can adopt it (advanced technologies) into their daily lives.
Hence, it is important for the government now to roll out the initiative to avoid being “left out” among the technological advanced countries. In US, although it is a developed country, there is still some minorities who are digital illiterate, which may put them in disadvantages such as lack of job opportunities, communication etc. To combat this, in 2009, the government has funded $4. 7 billion USD to National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to launch Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) ( U. S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Broadband 2010). It aims to enhance and expand broadband infrastructures across the country. Under BTOP, a grant of $6 million USD was used for Carver Country Open Fiber Initiative that benefitted the south-central Minnesita county such as: enhancing learning experiences in educational institutions; high speed fiber network; increase the availability and adoption of the broadband (BroadbandUSA - NTIA 2010).
Moreover, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) worked with 10 related agencies to launch DigitalLiteracy. gov (DigitalLiteracy. Gov n. d. ), a website that provides free educational resources to those who are seeking to enhance their digital literacy skills and adoption for free. They have a comprehensive range of tutorials (from teaching how to use computer to cyber awareness), that is suited for different age group of people. Equipped with enhanced digital skills, not only the workforce continues to stay competitive and relevant. With more “digital jobs” created in the market, this provides the opportunities for the people to use their digital skills that they have gained through these measures.
Furthermore, citizens can adopt and utilise the latest technologies rolled out by companies at ease too. As the tech giants is expanding at alarming rate, there is no doubt that the government came up with these measures to ensure most of its citizens are digital literate and the country’s digital infrastructures are well done, to stay attractive to these domestic and international tech giants. In turn, it can help to bring in a diverse opportunity for country as well. In conclusion, both China and US have come up with their own initiatives to integrate its citizens with technologies. While some initiatives run on the smaller scale, no doubt that the government is still concern about citizens’ technological readiness to embrace the future technologies that may bring to us – as technologies seemed to be a double-edged sword.
