If manufacturing is the backbone of economic growth, then the service sector is increasingly becoming the soft power that measures a city's strength and vitality. Data shows that in 2025, Hangzhou's total service sector added value reached 1.6997 trillion yuan, accounting for 73.8% of the city's GDP and contributing 73.4% to economic growth. From January to May 2026, the revenue of Hangzhou's core digital economy services and high-tech services grew by 13.3% and 11.1% year-on-year, respectively, far exceeding the average growth of the regulated service sector.
These figures offer the most direct interpretation of the sector's development. Behind this massive scale lies a profound shift in industrial structure: emerging forces centered on knowledge, technology, and data are rising rapidly, continuously increasing the "gold content," "tech content," and "innovation content" of Hangzhou's service industry. This also indicates that the development of the service sector is gradually becoming a key variable in driving economic growth, enhancing employment resilience, and improving industrial competitiveness. Prioritizing service sector development is no longer a "choice" but a "must-answer question."
How, then, will Hangzhou play its "first-mover advantage" in advancing the expansion and quality improvement of the service sector? On August 13, the city held a municipal service sector conference, outlining a blueprint for the sector's expansion, quality enhancement, and efficient, high-quality development from various angles, including policy and factor support, professional track planning, and distinctive regional development. The conference reviewed the "Hangzhou Action Plan for Promoting the Expansion and Quality Improvement of the Service Sector" (Draft for Comments).
Looking ahead, Hangzhou aims to build itself into a hub for advanced productive services and a shared destination for high-quality lifestyle services. It will accelerate the establishment of an eastern modern service center, promoting the specialization and extension of productive services to the high-end of the value chain, while fostering the high-quality, diversified, and convenient development of lifestyle services. This strategy supports industrial upgrading, smoothens economic circulation, meets people's needs, and drives employment expansion.
Execution Strategy and Key Initiatives
In terms of tasks and measures, the focus is on the dual approach of "production empowerment + lifestyle quality improvement." The plan fully aligns with the national layout of six major productive services and four major lifestyle services, comprehensively adopts the province's 56 detailed sub-tracks, and integrates Hangzhou's industrial strengths by embedding eight city-level characteristic tracks, such as Token services and AI scenario incubation. This forms a framework of "6+4" key industries and 56 detailed sub-tracks.
Regarding the implementation path, the emphasis is on "five-pronged coordination": First, digital intelligence, deepening the integrated development of "AI + service sector," cultivating digital transformation service providers, exploring new forms of platform economy development, and supporting platform enterprises in expanding their "product + content + ecosystem" scenario matrix. Second, standardization, by striving to become a national pilot for service sector standardization, strengthening standardization in key areas such as convention and exhibition economy, "integration of two industries," and service consumption, and improving service quality monitoring. Third, branding, actively seeking to become a national benchmark route for "Follow Brands to Travel," competing for "Pinzi Biao Zhejiang Service" and "Zhejiang Premium Products," and fully promoting the "Hangzhou Service" brand. Fourth, integration, deepening the national pilot for "integration of two industries" in intellectual property and the construction of a national demonstration city for service-oriented manufacturing, promoting the transformation of the manufacturing industry towards "product + service," and guiding various agricultural socialized service entities to innovate new service models. Fifth, internationalization, by deeply advancing the new round of pilot projects for comprehensive service sector opening-up, accelerating the construction of a national demonstration zone for innovation in service trade, and striving for a national pilot for cross-border data flow.
At the operational level, the emphasis is on a "mechanism + enterprise + factor" approach. Under the municipal-level overall working promotion mechanism, it strengthens city-district linkage, coordinated departmental efforts, and integrated advancement. It plans local track systems for each district, county, and city based on local conditions, placing greater emphasis on nurturing market entities and establishing a gradient cultivation chain from "small and medium-sized enterprises to specialized and sophisticated 'little giant' enterprises to leading enterprises."
The Dual-Engine Drive of Production and Lifestyle
The "dual-engine drive" of production empowerment and lifestyle quality improvement was a key term highlighted at the conference. Why does this dual-engine drive become a key direction for the high-quality development of the service sector? Productive services, such as technology services, software and information services, modern transportation and logistics, modern finance, energy-saving and environmental protection services, and business services, though not directly facing consumers, are located at the two ends of the "smiling curve," determining the added value of manufacturing and the security of the industrial chain. Lifestyle services, on the other hand, shape the city's "vibrancy" and attractiveness. While vigorously developing productive services, it is also crucial to simultaneously develop lifestyle services closely linked to people's well-being and livelihoods.
The high-quality development of the service sector relies on a group of active and competitive market entities. So, how will Hangzhou promote differentiated development based on the characteristics of different types of service industries to better achieve the "dual-engine drive"? According to the development trends of the service sector in various districts, counties, and cities, and the structural characteristics of the industry, the conference provided a "portrait-style" plan for the service sector development of each district, county, and city. For example, the Shangcheng District, with its prominent financial and business services but needing to strengthen its high-tech services, will use artificial intelligence as a core engine to cultivate new tracks and entities and reinforce high-value-added links. The Gongshu District, where commerce and finance lead in scale but the service sector requires a boost in growth momentum, will focus on the core tracks of "open-source ecosystem, cultural innovation, and computing power economy" to elevate its service sector development level.
Xihu District, with its solid foundation in artificial intelligence and technological innovation, will leverage its first-mover advantage in AI, accelerate the digital-intelligent integration empowering traditional services, and build an AI open-source model ecosystem and a benchmark for productive services. The Binjiang District will fully promote the construction of a national pilot base for embodied intelligent applications, actively cultivate professional service institutions, and continuously attract more high-quality service projects to land. Xiaoshan District, with its distinctive modern logistics and cultural performance industry, will take "AI + manufacturing" as a representative to strengthen productive services, and expand its advantageous tracks in modern logistics, performance industry, and digital trade. Yuhang District, which maintains a leading position in digital services, will continuously strengthen the digital economy service sector as its core engine and accelerate the improvement of a gradient cultivation system of "leading enterprises + high-growth enterprises + start-ups."
Linping District, with its strong growth momentum in regulated services, is advised to strengthen its characteristic tracks to enhance its industrial weight and brand recognition. The Qiantang District will fully leverage its manufacturing base advantages, deepen the pilot for "integration of two industries," and attract more high-quality market entities to settle. Fuyang District, where emerging formats are developing, will on one hand promote the diversified integration of the service sector and manufacturing, and on the other hand, link its landscape resources with event venues to stimulate the potential of cultural tourism consumption. Lin'an District will focus on the key tracks of "intelligent connection information, digital cultural entertainment + verification and design, smart logistics, and diversified tourism" to further expand its industrial scale. Tonglu County, known as the "hometown of express logistics," will strengthen the introduction and cultivation of emerging service industries, deepen the integration of agriculture, culture, commerce, tourism, sports, and film, and promote the upgrading of lifestyle services. Chun'an County, with its distinctive tourism service brand, will further deepen the "lake +" and "tourism +" narratives to promote the transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry. Jiande City, with a positive growth trend among its service enterprises, will actively develop sports consumption, deeply cultivate the conversion of film and television IP, and extend the cultivation of high-value-added industries such as pilot testing services and inspection and testing.
The rise of the service sector is not just an industrial upgrade; it represents a profound transformation in the mode of development. Moving from a "big service city" to a "strong service capability city," the shining "Hangzhou Service" business cards, like powerful engines driving the city's high-quality development, will gather the surging momentum for the city's overall economic high-quality progress.