Exploring the Trends of the Relationship Between Digital Industrialization and Industrial Digitization on the Development of Digital Economy ---Take China and Japan as Examples

The synergistic relationship between industrial digitization and digital industrialization will have an influence on the advancement of the digital economy. However, not many follow-up studies have further explored the hypothesis. This paper examines data on the present state of advancement in the digital economy in Japan and China, concluding that digital industrialization has a catalytic influence on the advancement of industrial digitization in the early stages of digital economy development, but has no similar counter effect on the advancement of digital industrialization once industrial digitization has taken off. The paper also advocates that the unequal industrial digitization and digital industrialization at this point will not have a negative effect on the growth of the digital economy. The result is instructive for advancing the development of the digital economy in rich countries with underdeveloped digital economies as well as developing nations, and it helps governments advance the growth of their own digital economies.