Can a Higher Level of Digital Economy Help Manufacturing Transition?

Liaoning Province has experienced many years of industrial structure adjustment, but there are still industrial structure contradictions. Since the reform and opening up, the economy of Liaoning Province has been developing steadily, and the prosperous development of tertiary industry has played a positive role in promoting the economic development. The “12th Five-Year Plan” of Liaoning Province clearly puts forward the goal of adjusting the industrial structure, focusing on the supportive role of scientific and technological innovation in industrial upgrading, vigorously developing strategic emerging industries, transforming and upgrading traditional industries, and eliminating backward production capacity. However, the optimization of industrial structure in Liaoning Province has always been a concern for Chinese scholars. In studies since the 1990s, it has been found that the industrial structure of Liaoning province relies too much on heavy industry and capital-intensive industries, and that it needs to further upgrade basic industries and promote the transformation of the industrial structure towards the dominance of primary, secondary and tertiary industries.