The digital economy has become a powerful engine of global economic growth as a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating, said a top industry official.

Zhang Xueying, deputy head of the State Information Center, made these remarks while addressing the opening ceremony of the 2020 World Digital Economy Conference (2020 WDEC) that opened in Ningbo city, Zhejiang province, on Friday.

Echoing Zhang, Gao Xingfu, vice-governor of Zhejiang, pointed out that the digital economy has emerged as a pivotal engine of economic growth worldwide especially during the COVID-19 pandemic this year.

The added value of China's digital economy hit 35.8 trillion yuan ($5.07 trillion) in 2019, accounting for 36.2 percent of GDP and a proportional increase of 1.4 percentage points year-on-year, according to a report released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology on July 3.

As a spearhead of China's reform and opening-up, the coastal province of Zhejiang is leading the nation in terms of digital economic growth.

The added value of the digital economy's core industry in the province reached 623 billion yuan in 2019, up 14.5 percent year-on-year.

Hosting the World Digital Economy Conference is part of the province's efforts to facilitate global cooperation and exchanges in the digital economy, the vice-governor said.

Luminaries including Pan Yunhe, academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Ding Lei, NetEase founder and CEO, and Zhang Jianfeng, president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, also delivered speeches at the main forum of 2020 WDEC.

The conference coincided with the 10th Smart City and Intelligent Economy Expo which kicked off on the same day in Ningbo city.

The expo, which will run until Sept 13, has attracted nearly 300 tech companies and organizations from home and abroad, featuring 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and cloud computing, to showcase their latest accomplishments and products.

The expo, now in its 10th year in the city, has become a significant platform promoting cooperation and exchanges in smart city construction and the intelligent economy in China.

Cai Jingwen in Ningbo contributed to the story