Impact of the Digital Economy on Health Industry: Comparison
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Health is a basic need of the people and an important foundation for economic and social development. In developed economies such as the United States, Europe, and Japan, the health industry has become a huge driving force for the growth of the entire national economy, and the added value of the health industry in these economies has accounted for more than 15% of their GDP.

  • digital economy
  • health industry
  • technological innovation
  • threshold effect

1. Digital Economy and the Health Industry

The concept of the digital economy was first introduced by Tapscott [27][1]. Research on the digital economy in China dates back to 1999, and the literature focusing on digital economy research has risen significantly in the last five years [28][2]. As a rapidly developing new economic model, the digital economy integrates information and communication technologies in industrial development and promotes the digital transformation of all factors in the industry. It plays a powerful role in promoting national economic development [23][3]. According to the “Electricity and Numbers” database of the Internet Society, the market size of the Internet healthcare market in 2020 was 155 billion yuan, an increase of 48.46% year-on-year; the user size was 662 million people, an increase of 42.06% year-on-year. New ICT-based health services have become a new growth point for the health industry [5][4].
The core chain of the health industry chain consists of the enterprise chain, value chain, technology chain, product chain, and spatial chain [29][5]. At present, the development of the health industry is at a preliminary stage. The resources of each link of the industry chain are relatively scattered. This leads to inadequate resource utilization and low production efficiency in the entire industrial chain, preventing it from taking advantage of resources and industrial agglomeration effects. The digital economy can provide a series of value-added services to the industry chain by reconfiguring and integrating digital production factors [30][6]. Thus, the digital economy can promote the construction and upgrading of the health industry chain.
There is a certain degree of deficiency in the health industry in terms of talent supply, financial support, and information sharing. How can the government play a leading role in encouraging various resources to enter the health industry? At the same time, how can the market play a role in improving the supply of various factors of production? These are all important factors affecting the development of the health industry. Under the digital economy model, the accelerated development of Internet B2B platforms can promote the construction of an Internet platform for the health industry. It effectively removes complex and redundant links in the supply chain, continuously promotes the flattening of the industry, and improves the efficiency of industrial operations [31][7]. Thus, the digital economy can promote the health industry as a whole to achieve supply chain transformation and upgrading.
With high-quality economic development, rising income levels, and demographic changes, the upgrading of the demand structure of the health industry has given rise to huge market space. People are no longer satisfied with basic medical needs, but have instead upgraded their demand for health management services, high-end medical care, healthy food, and other high-level health needs. In recent years, some domestic Internet health management companies have developed rapidly, and the application software platforms they have built provide health management services to hundreds of millions of users through live fitness streaming, food recommendations, and activity participation [32][8]. As a result, the digital economy can further give rise to new business models in the health industry.
China has long attached a high level of importance to the development of the health industry. It can boost consumption, promote employment, and has broad market potential. With the continuous improvement of living standards, people’s demand within the health industry further expands, and the health industry ushers in good development opportunities [33][9]. COVID-19 has had a major impact on the residential industry, negatively affecting many aspects of life [34][10]. COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of digital technological innovations in healthcare to support the healthcare system [35][11]. Without exception, COVID-19 has increased global attention to the healthcare field and the desire for better health services.
The concept of “digital health” was born under the joint strategic deployment of building a healthy China and a digital China. “Digital health” was first mentioned in the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Digital Economy. It was clearly stated that “accelerating the development of digital health services” was one of the “social service digitalization enhancement projects”. The development of digital health has roughly gone through four periods: the budding period, the exploration period, the growth period, and the comprehensive development period. Unlike the vigorous development of digital production and digital life, the development of digital health is relatively slow, and the digitalization level of the health industry is relatively backward [36][12]. In the context of big data, the rapid growth of the economic scale of the health industry has triggered new problems. Although it has brought economic growth, employment growth, and social and medical service innovation, problems in cybersecurity and personal data leakage have also come to the fore [37][13]. At the same time, the development of the digital economy may challenge the technological base and resource capacity of health enterprises. The digital economy brings problems of information quality, information security, and information overload to enterprises, which affects their scientific decision making, increases their information processing costs, and increases their operational burden [38][14]. All of these may weaken its driving effect on the development of the health industry.

2. Digital Economy, Technological Innovation, and the Health Industry

Currently, most of the literature related to the digital economy focuses on the calculation and evolution of digital economy indices [39,40][15][16]. The impact of digital economy development on various aspects of society has been studied from different perspectives through the measurement of the digital economy index system. For example, in a study on digital economy and innovation efficiency, Huang et al. [41][17] established a digital economy index using city-level data in China, showing that China’s digital economy and urban innovation have spatial clustering characteristics and regional differences in spatial distribution. Wang et al. [42][18] used spatial econometrics to obtain a significant positive direct effect and spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on the growth of innovation efficiency. In a study on digital economy and industry, Chen et al. [28][2] concluded that the digital economy era has gradually formed a new generation of industrial models based on digital technology, prompting traditional industries to continuously develop transformation paths that create new values with the help of new technologies. Qin [23][3] explored the importance of the digital economy for the development of the health industry and the challenges it faces. At present, research on technological innovation focuses on the measurement of the efficiency of technological innovation. Through the measurement of technological innovation efficiency, the impact of technological innovation on the economy and society is studied from different perspectives. For example, Zhu [43][19] constructed a scientific and technological innovation input–output index system to measure the efficiency of national scientific and technological innovation and made international comparisons. Wu [44][20] pointed out that the level of technological innovation has a significant threshold effect on the optimization of industrial structure. Qin [45][21] pointed out that innovation capability plays an important role in the cultivation of core competitiveness of the health industry. Jiang et al. [46][22] made suggestions for the innovation development of China’s health industry by studying the Swedish health industry’s scientific and technological innovation system. Shi et al. [47][23] studied the effects of innovation-driven policies on industrial pollution reduction, providing an empirical basis for the promotion of public health. Currently, the literature on the health industry is generally small and mainly focuses on the definition, division criteria, and scale measurement of the health industry. Empirical studies on the relationship between the digital economy, technological innovation, and the health industry have not yet been conducted. The lack of innovation capacity is still a key issue limiting the development of China’s health industry. Most manufacturers are small in scale and weak in R&D, mainly concentrating on the middle and low-end markets, with few internationally competitive health industries [48][24]. The core driver of industrial development lies in innovation, so the development of the health industry needs to build an innovation ecosystem and achieve a synergistic symbiosis of industry innovation [49][25]. In the new journey of Chinese-style modernization, we need to embrace the “new economy” represented by the digital economy, so that we can better use technological innovation to promote the specialization and high level of the health industry.

References

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