The Digital Economy Enables Regional Industrial Structures Through Multiple Pathways

Abstract

The digital economy has become a key driver of regional industrial transformation, enabling the evolution of traditional industries toward intelligent, networked, and data-driven development. This study investigates the mechanisms through which digital technologies reshape regional industrial structures and analyzes their enabling pathways from the perspectives of technological empowerment, platform-based ecosystem reconstruction, and data-driven value creation. The results indicate that technologies such as artificial i ntelligence, I nternet o f T hings, 5 G c ommunication, c loud c omputing, a nd e dge computing improve production efficiency, r esource a llocation, a nd i ndustrial c ollaboration, w hile d igital platforms strengthen ecosystem connectivity and innovation capability. Data elements further promote intelligent decision-making, flexible production, and industrial value innovation. Based on these findings, a regional implementation framework integrating digital infrastructure construction, industrial digital transformation, and innovation ecosystem cultivation is proposed. The study highlights the importance of information connectivity, computing-resource coordination, and digital network integration in supporting industrial upgrading and regional competitiveness. The proposed framework provides an engineering-oriented perspective for understanding the interaction between digital technologies and industrial systems, offering theoretical guidance for the development of intelligent manufacturing and digitally connected industrial infrastructures.