By Long Guoqiang, Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC)

As China's economy has entered the new normal, achieving transformation and upgrading holds the key to China's economic development. IT application will vigorously promote China's economic transformation and upgrading. China has numerous favorable conditions, which deserve profound analysis and accurate judgment. First, China has a strong and solid foundation for IT industry; second, China enjoys huge domestic market potential; third, promoting economic transformation and development by harnessing IT application is becoming national consensus and action. Despite of these strong conditions, China meanwhile faces quite a few challenges, which need to be dealt with by drawing on advantages while bypassing disadvantages and avoiding unfavorable conditions. First, core technological equipment has an evident gap with that of globally advanced level; second, China is facing a daunting challenge in information security; third, infrastructure development for IT application lags behind; fourth, innovation-oriented financial service system remains to be improved; fifth, a systematic environment conforming to IT application remains to be established and improved. To accelerate economic transformation and upgrading fueled by IT application, it is necessary to formulate effective development strategies. In view of China's conditions, the government should adopt the strategy for IT application to promote economic transformation and upgrading which consists of two major fields and two major drivers ("2+2" strategy for short). Efforts should be made to accomplish the following tasks: first, according to the "2+2" strategy arrangements, integrate and improve existing strategies and initiatives; second, treat IT application innovation with an open and inclusive manner and adopt the "follow-up" model for system building; third, vigorously improve IT application infrastructure; fourth, build an open and innovative institutional environment and break bottlenecks in IT application core technology and equipment; fifth, intensify information security building through leveraging the role of technology and management.

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