The 2021 Western Digital Economy Expo opens in Xi'an on June 16. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2021 Western Digital Economy Expo commenced in Xi'an, the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, on June 16 and will last until June 18. It has attracted nearly 200 companies to participate and showcase their latest products.

The three-day event will highlight the latest achievements of the digital economy in Shaanxi and build a new communication platform for the development of the entire digital economy industrial chain in Northwest China.

This year's expo has a total of eight themed exhibition areas to display new concepts, new products, new technologies and new equipment in the domestic and international digital economy sector, covering big data, digital finance, artificial intelligence, smart city development, industrial internet, cybersecurity, blockchain and 5G networks.

Many visitors flock to the 2021 Western Digital Economy Expo, which is being held in Xi'an. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A special exhibition area for the digital yuan, also known as e-CNY or Digital Currency Electronic Payment, has also been set up. This is the first large-scale digital yuan demonstration and experience event in the 11 pilot regions for the digital yuan. In October of last year, Xi'an was listed as one of China's pilot areas for the digital yuan.

During the expo, six themed forums will also be held in the fields of empowering smart city construction with digital twin technology, digital transformation and "5G + smart education."

In recent years, Xi'an has taken the development of the digital economy as a strategic task to promote high-quality development, digital industrialization, industrial digitization and the construction of new infrastructure.

In 2020, the economic scale of Xi'an's digital economy reached 358.5 billion yuan ($56.04 billion), a year-on-year increase of 17 percent. It is home to 202 key big data companies and nearly 2,000 software and information service companies.