(Yicai Global) April 3 -- Smart technologies like artificial intelligence and 5G are being developed across downtown districts and major transport hubs to boost digital urban management and cap Shanghai's digital transformation strategy.

Driven by the city government’s ambition to lead the world in the development of AI, local districts are turning historical industrial sites into innovation parks related to the burgeoning technology.

Riverside regions along the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek have been renewed with parks and walking paths as well as intelligent applications and innovation parks for high-tech firms.

The city’s former iron-steel base in the north is being transformed into innovation and smart towns to focus on the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. A major production line for COVID-19 vaccines will be developed on the former site of polluted industrial sites.

A new software hub is taking shape in west Shanghai as the city strives to become an international powerhouse of digital economy by 2022.

The boom in the online economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has brought more opportunities for tech firms and new online businesses in telecommuting, online entertainment, e-commerce, online education and contact-free delivery.

New infrastructure, such as 5G base stations and charging stations for electric cars, are expected to help restore the economy after the pandemic as well as drive future economic development.

Editor: Chen Juan