Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, has aligned its strategy with national 15th Five-Year Plan guidelines, becoming the first city in China to release a dedicated plan for the healthy and high-quality development of the platform economy. The initiative aims to establish Hangzhou as a benchmark city for platform economy excellence, a hub for new productive forces empowered by platforms, a cradle for digital-real economy integration, and a pioneer in platform governance rules.
By 2030, the plan targets having over 650 platform enterprises in the city, with a cumulative research and development investment exceeding 493 billion yuan over five years. This positions Hangzhou to maintain a leading scale and quality of platform economy development nationwide. The plan introduces a pioneering "323N" development framework, which includes 3 major categories, 23 sub-categories, and N new tracks. This structure focuses on optimizing network transaction platforms, expanding network service platforms, and strengthening industrial internet platforms, while also exploring the development of new artificial intelligence-based platforms like A2A and AI aggregation to propel the platform economy into a new phase.
As a pioneer in the platform economy, Hangzhou is home to China's first comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zone. In 2024, the city's cross-border e-commerce import and export volume reached 151.995 billion yuan, and the number of sellers has grown from just over 200 in 2015 to 65,000, a more than 300-fold increase. In 2025, the city's core digital economy industry value added reached 678 billion yuan, accounting for 29.5% of its GDP, while the revenue of the core artificial intelligence industry above a designated size stood at 460 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.1%.
The plan directly addresses issues such as "involution" competition, transforming over 20 years of development and governance experience into innovative sources for digital and collaborative governance. It outlines five major tasks with clear pathways. In the realm of AI integration, a "Platform + AI" integration action will be launched, promoting the full fusion of industrial internet, network transaction, and network service platforms with artificial intelligence. For platform empowerment, the plan includes "1+2" measures for collaborative innovation between platforms and specialized markets, and for the integrated development of platforms and small and medium-sized enterprises. On the factor support front, four measures are introduced: strengthening talent support, releasing data value, enhancing financial support, and optimizing intellectual property protection. For open services, three measures will be implemented: promoting cross-border digital cooperation, supporting platform enterprises in exploring international markets, and establishing a comprehensive service system for enterprises going global, further leveraging the pilot zone's first-mover advantage. In terms of governance, five measures are proposed: improving the regulatory system, innovating regulatory efficiency, combating key illegal activities, building a harmonious and win-win relationship, and fostering a healthy green development foundation.
A representative from the Hangzhou Municipal Market Supervision Administration stated that the city will continue to leverage its "Hangzhou Model" governance experience in the platform economy. This will drive the transformation of the platform economy from scale expansion to innovation-driven growth, providing a replicable and scalable "Hangzhou Sample" for the healthy and high-quality development of the national platform economy.
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