The 5th World Internet Conference concluded in the watertown of Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Friday.
Hot topics discussed at the conference ranged from the future of the worldwide web, Fintech, the Internet of Things and 5G.
Qu Qiang, the assistant director of the International Monetary Institute at the Renmin University of China, called it a landmark event for the new Chinese economy -- the Internet-based economy.
"I think this is a very remarkable event that has happened in China…it is held in the most tech-savvy regions like Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, which is good for the entire industry," Qu said.
A Beijing-based think tank said that China ranks second in the world in terms of Internet development, just behind the US. According to the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies, China's digital economy exceeded 27 trillion yuan (3.91 trillion US dollars) last year, which accounted for more than 30 percent of the country's GDP and 55 percent of growth.
VCG Photo
Qu said, now, China is one of the leading countries in the tech field and suggested that all tech-savvy countries like the US, Europe, and China should think clearly about Internet governance and negotiate a new rule for the Internet world.
"In the US, personal data of millions of Facebook users was hacked. Similar incidents have occurred in China. I think this is a good opportunity for everybody to sit together and negotiate about the rules," Qu said.
Meanwhile, technology breakthroughs such as 5G and big data are helping advance self-driving vehicles.
Qu noted that human progress is not based on just information technology or revolution in one industry.
"We need three factors: first, connecting people's information, second is transportation, and third is the use of new energy," he said.
"Electricity [had been discovered for] hundreds of years, but we still [had to] travel based on winds and wheels, and the only thing we have revolutionarily changed is the Internet," Qu noted, adding that "the next big thing has not happened yet, so we are waiting to see what's next."