Cities poised to cross the 2-trillion-yuan GDP threshold are ramping up their catch-up efforts to make up for development shortcomings.

According to Ningbo Daily and Chao News, the Ningbo Service Industry Conference was held on September 3. The conference emphasized that efforts should be intensified to promote the expansion, quality improvement, high-quality and efficient development of Ningbo's service industry, so as to provide strong support for building a modern coastal metropolis with global competitiveness and a leading position in common prosperity.

The conference also pointed out that it is necessary to anchor the goals, expand the overall scale, promote the continuous increase of the proportion of producer services in the service industry, the proportion of the service industry in the gross domestic product, and the proportion of the city's service industry in the total province, so as to enhance the supporting role of the service industry in the high-quality economic development.

Ningbo is a typical major industrial city with strong manufacturing strength. In 2025, the total output value of industries above designated size in Ningbo exceeded 2.5 trillion yuan, with 128,000 manufacturing enterprises and 119 national-level single-item champions in the manufacturing industry, ranking first in the country for 8 consecutive years.

However, a basic law governing the development of modern industries is that service density determines the height of manufacturing. The higher-end the manufacturing goes, the deeper the dependence on producer services such as R&D and design, inspection and testing, and industrial software.

This is particularly urgent for Ningbo.

In 2025, the added value of Ningbo's service industry exceeded 1 trillion yuan for the first time, reaching 10.378 trillion yuan, accounting for 55.5% of GDP. In horizontal comparison, this figure is not only lower than the average level of 59.4% in Zhejiang province, but also far lower than Hangzhou (73.9%), as well as Nanjing (68.0%) which has a similar economic volume.

The gap is further widened in the producer service sector with higher "gold content" — in 2025, the revenue of information service industry above designated size in Hangzhou reached 1.5 trillion yuan, Nanjing has nurtured a trillion-level software industry cluster, while the added value of Ningbo's software and information service industry was only 42.11 billion yuan, with a huge gap in scale.

Previously, in a deliberation opinion on promoting the high-quality development of producer services, the Ningbo Municipal People's Congress clearly pointed out that most of Ningbo's producer service enterprises are "at the middle and low end of the industrial chain and value chain", and the industrial level "does not match the comprehensive strength of advanced manufacturing and the city's energy level".

From the perspective of international experience, the development level of the service industry is usually measured by the "two 70% indicators": the added value of the service industry accounts for 70% of GDP, and the added value of producer services accounts for 70% of the added value of the service industry.

If the manufacturing industry is the "hard backbone" of the economy that supports the basic market of a city, then the service industry is the "soft power" that measures the energy level and vitality of a city, and determines the ceiling height of a city.

For Ningbo, which is in a critical period of climbing over obstacles, making up for the shortcomings of the service industry is not only an inherent requirement of industrial upgrading, but also a strategic choice related to the development prospect of the city.

In 2025, Ningbo's total economic volume reached 1.87 trillion yuan, failing to achieve the 2 trillion yuan target as scheduled. Facing the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, Ningbo has anchored a higher goal — by 2030, strive to achieve a gross regional product of 2.6 trillion yuan.

To a certain extent, whether Ningbo can successfully break through in urban competition and enter a higher energy level, the expansion and quality improvement of the service industry has become the key. As local experts said, "If the producer service industry cannot keep up, the manufacturing industry will probably always stay at the low level of a 'manual laborer'."

The goal has been clarified. According to the newly issued "Ningbo Service Industry Expansion and Quality Improvement Action Plan (2026-2030)", by 2030, the added value of Ningbo's service industry will reach 1.5 trillion yuan, accounting for 57% of GDP, and the proportion of producer services in the service industry will reach 62%.

According to the official tone of Ningbo, promoting the high-quality and efficient development of the service industry is Ningbo's responsibility to fulfill the mission of "a major economic province should take on major responsibilities", and it is also an important starting point for promoting the industry to transform towards new and high directions, and the key to better stimulating consumption potential.

In terms of the specific direction of "making up lessons", Ningbo will focus on key areas such as strong port construction, integration of manufacturing and service industries, artificial intelligence, green low-carbon development, and common prosperity, and open up a new situation for the development of the service industry with "extraordinary strength and extraordinary measures".

This article is from the WeChat official account "Urban Evolution Theory", the author is Liu Yanmei, and it is published with authorization from 36Kr.