The Internet has played a vital role in spurring innovation and fostering industrial upgrading in Zhejiang province, top officials said on Tuesday.

Wu Junqing, deputy director of the Zhejiang Province Economic and Information Commission, said traditional manufacturers in the province were able to accelerate the pace of industrial upgrading thanks to the lessons learnt from last year's World Internet Conference.

"With the success of the first World Internet Conference last year, 'Internet' has become a hot word in the province. Information technology is now the main driving force for the industrial upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries," he said.

Wu said that the province accounts for about 11 percent of China's industrial robotics implementation, and is the leader in the segment.

Jiaxing Getelan Garments Co Ltd used to be a traditional manufacturer of qipao - a traditional Chinese dress for women - in Wuzhen. Seeing the development opportunities brought about by the Internet, the company has successfully moved up the value chain.

"We started to use the Internet to raise funds, develop distribution channels and have even been crowdfunding our designers since last year," said Yao Yunfei, founder of the company.

Yao said that with the Internet, designers in Shanghai and other big cities were no longer out of reach.

The company has also developed a 3D human figure scanning and printing system that enables the company to get customers' measures online and provide tailoring services.

While traditional manufacturers benefited from the high-speed development of the Internet industry, new start-ups are also showing enthusiasm.

Zhao Xikai, deputy director of the administrative commission of Zhejiang Hangzhou Future Sci-Tech City, said that the organization, which focuses on Internet-related start-ups, has experienced great changes since the first conference was held last year.

"Last year, we helped more than 4,300 people to start their own business and had 14 business incubators with more than 32 billion yuan ($5.1 billion) of investment," he said. "We are confident of having 2,000 start-up projects within three years."

Zhao said that the decentralization brought about by the Internet has removed boundaries among sectors.

Contact the writer at yanyiqi@chinadaily.com.cn and liuzheng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 12/16/2015 page6)