This section deals with the third question (how to apply the analysis results to the design process of digital rural development policy) using the GE matrix. To provide a quantitative basis for spatial planning zoning, the 79 counties in the province are classified into nine sub-categories (combinations) and three categories by hierarchical classification (quantile clustering) in the GE matrix, using the development index and the driving index as the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively. According to the national and Gansu digital village construction policies, differentiated policies are designed for the three categories of planning zones based on the rural digital development needs of the study area.
4.3.1. Spatial Zoning Planning
As a backward and underdeveloped region with limited government and social resources, Gansu should adopt an unbalanced development strategy in the initial stage of rural digitalization. In addition, the analysis in
Section 3.1 and
Section 3.2 shows that there are significant spatial heterogeneity and correlation characteristics in the construction of digital villages in the province. Therefore, spatial zoning should be delineated and differentiated management policies should be designed to improve policy adaptability and regional linkage. Gansu should, according to the development base, location conditions and resource endowment of its counties, make scientific planning and the reasonable arrangement of key tasks and projects of digital village construction by zoning and classification to promote the process. Information technology facilities and services should be built according to the development needs of rural areas, farmers and agriculture, while taking measures to prevent image projects and wastefulness.
In this study, the policy partitions are delineated by the general matrix method, where the horizontal coordinates are directly based on the analysis results in
Figure 6, while the vertical coordinates are weighted to calculate the driving index. The direct influence (set to zero when not statistically significant) and the interactive influence are given the same weight in the calculation.
Table 2 and
Table 7 are summed up, and then the proportion of each factor is calculated as the weight. Taking the village digitalization index as an example, the direct and interactive influences of
~
are shown in the first column of
Table 2 and
Table 7, corresponding to the total influences of 0.64 (0.21 + 0.43), 0.48 (0.11 + 0.37), …, 0.49 (0 + 0.49), 0.65 (0.39 + 0.26), with a sum of 5.72, corresponding to weights of 0.11 (0.64/5.72), 0.08 (0.48/5.72), …, 0.09 (0.49/5.72) and 0.11 (0.65/5.72), respectively. For each county, the weighted sum of all impact factors is calculated as the driving index, and quantile clustering is performed for all counties in the study area. By interacting the horizontal and vertical coordinates, all counties in the study area are classified into nine subcategories (combinations) and three categories.
For the village digitalization index, the policy zoning is as follows: 14 counties are in the leader-high (I) combination, i.e., Yongdeng, Yuzhong, Jingyuan, Huining, Qinzhou, Liangzhou, Kongtong, Suzhou, Dunhuang, Xifeng, Huanxian, Longxi, Lintao, Linxia; 10 counties are in the high (II) combination, i.e., Honggu, Gaolan, Yongchang, Maiji, Qinan, Ganzhou, Guazhou, Huachi, Anding, Wushan and Wudu; 3 counties are in the straggler-high (III) combination, i.e., Pingchuan, Gangu and Yumen; 7 counties are in the leader-medium (IV) combination, i.e., Jingtai, Minle, Huating, Chengxian, Huixian, Yongjing and Hezuo; 10 counties are in the follower-medium (V) combination, i.e., Linze, Gaotai, Zhuanglang, Jingning, Qingcheng, Heshui, Ningxian, Tongwei, Minxian and Lixian; 9 counties are in the straggler-medium (VI) combination, i.e., Minqin, Gulang, Tianzhu, Sunan, Shandan, Jinta, Akesai and Zhenyuan; 6 counties are in the leader-low (VII) combination, i.e., Chongxin, Weiyuan, Kangxian, Xihe, Liangdang and Guanghe; 6 counties are in the follower-low (VIII) combination, i.e., Jingchuan, Lingtai, Zhangxian, Tanchang, Lintan and Zhouqu; 14 counties are in the straggler-low (IX) combination, i.e., Qingshui, Zhangjiachuan, Zhengning, Wenxian, Linxia-C, Kangle, Hezheng, Dongxiang, Jishishan, Zhuoni, Diebu, Maqu, Luqu and Xiahe (
Figure 8).
The analysis results of the village facilities digitalization index, village economy digitalization index and village management digitalization index are shown in
Figure 9,
Figure 10 and
Figure 11 (where the images are self-explanatory, and they are not described in detail here so as to control space), which are important references for the planning, design, policy, programming and implementation of digital village construction.
4.3.2. Differentiation Policy Design
The development index and the driving index of rural digitalization in this type of policy area are both high with strong competitive power and attractive power in Gansu. With a promising development and high regional status, they are the priority and focus regions for investment. They should adopt an expansion strategy in the future and try to grow into the leaders of rural digitalization in the province. First, the Gansu provincial government and municipal governments should give more preference to the counties within the policy area in allocating funds, capital and resources for rural digitalization. Second, all counties in this policy area should, in accordance with the people-oriented and bold innovation idea, give full play to the main role of farmers to stimulate the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of farmers, so that the majority of farmers become participants and beneficiaries of the construction of the digital countryside. They should further boost the passion for digital development of agricultural enterprises in terms of the goal of agricultural and rural modernization, help and encourage farmers and agricultural enterprises to apply the new generation of information technology, cultivate new business forms and new models of the rural digital economy and drive the overall innovation of the rural development system, mechanism and model. Third, the counties within this policy area should have a sense of responsibility and mission to develop standards for the construction of digital villages in Gansu. It is necessary to develop guidelines or norms for digital rural construction in Gansu based on its own development stage and actual conditions as well as the experience of other provinces. Fourth, it is necessary to guide Gansu to establish early a dynamic monitoring mechanism for the development of digital villages, strengthen the management and supervision of the implementation process and carry out evaluation and guidance for the construction of digital villages.
Of note is that in the process of implementing the expansion strategy, the strategic focus of digital village construction is not exactly the same for counties in the three combinations of I, II and IV. The counties in Combination I should adopt an overall leading development strategy and enjoy priority in capital and resource allocation to promote their long-term leadership in the rural digitalization of Gansu. The counties in Combination II should adopt a model development strategy and increase overall investment to prompt them to become specialized or all-round emerging leaders in the rural digitalization of Gansu. For counties in Combination IV, a strategy of expansion in a dominant segment should be adopted, and according to the results of the analysis in
Figure 9,
Figure 10 and
Figure 11, increased investment should be made in a certain dominant segment to maintain the position. In general, a digital countryside development model that matches the knowledge structure of the rural population should be established for the three combinations to promote information construction in fields such as rural economy, politics, culture, society, ecological civilization and party construction as a whole, to help revitalize the countryside and move forward the construction of “digital Gansu” by creating a digital countryside brand and image of Gansu as an endorsement pilot.
- 2.
Characteristic Exploration Zoning: Highlight Specialty
Since the development index and driving index of rural digitalization in this policy area are at a midpoint, limited funds, capital and resources should be invested in specialized and characteristic fields for the needs of rural areas, farmers and agricultural development in the future. First,
Figure 8,
Figure 9,
Figure 10 and
Figure 11 are overlaid for analysis to determine the areas of strength for each county in the policy area. Second, a development strategy suitable for specialization, stabilization and transformation is determined based on their resources and conditions. It should be noted that transformation can be considered as a special type of specialized development strategy. Specialization requires establishing strengths and further focusing on their advantages, while transformation requires making up for weaknesses and overcoming the shackles and constraints of weaknesses on the development of strengths.
Gangu and Kangxian should adopt a stabilization strategy because they have the same combination of facilities, economy and management digitalization index and a very balanced development in all areas. Pingchuan, Yumen, Linze, Gaotai, Zhuanglang, Jingning, Qingcheng, Heshui, Ningxian, Tongwei, Minxian, Lixian and Chongxin should adopt a specialization strategy. For example, for Zhuanglang and Jingning, their village digitalization indexes are in Combination V, their facilities digitalization indexes are in Combinations V and VI, their economy digitalization indexes are in Combination IV and their management digitalization indexes are in Combinations VI and V, respectively. Obviously, they have significant advantages in the field of rural economy digitalization and a specialization strategy should be adopted for them to further highlight their advantages and shape their own characteristics in the future. Weiyuan, Xihe, Liangdang and Guanghe should adopt a transformation strategy as they have significant lagging areas and no prominent areas of strength. In Liangdang, for example, there is no prominent strength with the village digitalization index and facilities digitalization index in Combination VII, and a serous lag with the economy and management digitalization index in Combination IX. Therefore, if additional investments are made in infrastructure informationization in the future, it is probable that the returns will hardly achieve the expected goals, and it is recommended to shift future investments of funds, capital and resources to the areas of economic and managerial digitization that are seriously lagging behind to eliminate their constraints on the development of facilities and overall digitization.
For specialization and transformation development, targeted strategies should be adopted to rapidly expand the strengths or make up for the weaknesses. For example, in the development of the digital economy relying on the agricultural products of Taobao Village, live streaming village and Internet celebrity, it is necessary to deepen e-commerce into the countryside, unblock the channel of industrial products to the countryside and promote the online purchase of daily necessities, agricultural materials and tools, the production and operation services of rural residents, besides efforts to promote the sale of agricultural products online and accelerate the construction of logistics facilities for processing, packaging, cold chain transport, storage and delivery to cities of agricultural products. For example, when relying on the digital platform for village self-governance, it is required to carry forward the practice of villagers’ online deliberations and online supervision, promote more village high-frequency government affairs and villagers’ services to be performed online and by cell phone, and establish electronic ledgers for village assets and finances.
- 3.
Moderate Development Zoning: Enhancing Foundation
Since the policy area has a low competitive power and attractive power of rural digital development, a smart contraction strategy should be adopted to improve the efficiency of capital and resource utilization. For Qingshui, Zhangjiachuan, Zhengning, Wenxian and other counties in Combination IX, it is difficult to change their current status in the short term due to their low level of development and weak power. They should make good use of policy and transfer funds from higher level governments in the future according to the basic needs of national and local (provincial and municipal) governments to accelerate the pace of the digital transformation of rural infrastructure and enhance the foundation and capacity of digital rural construction. For example, they should improve the survey and statistics of the basic data of rural roads and update electronic maps regularly to raise the level of informationization of comprehensive supervision of rural roads. Moreover, they should accelerate the digital transformation of rural power grids and implement rural power grid consolidation and upgrading projects to make up for and strengthen the weaknesses of rural power grids.
Wushan, Minqin, Gulang, Tianzhu, Shandan and other counties in Combination VI should implement differentiated development strategies and concentrate their limited resources. For example, Tianzhu has a very low index of facilities and management digitalization (the former in Combination VI and the latter in Combination V), but it has a high economy digitalization index (in Combination IV) with a high potential and strong driving force for digital economy development, so it should concentrate its limited resources into digital economy development in the future. For example, it should accelerate the development of e-commerce for agricultural products and agricultural supplies and its supporting system, preferably by planning and creating a number of Taobao Villages, live-streaming villages and Internet celebrity agricultural products. Jingchuan, Lingtai, Zhangxian, Tanchang, Lintan and Zhouqu, counties in Combination VIII, should implement an appropriate development strategy. For example, Zhouqu, located in an autonomous region of ethnic minorities and a high mountain valley area, has a complex topography, frequent natural disasters and lagging economic development. Zhouqu currently has a very low index of facilities (in Combination IX), economy (in Combination IX) and management (in Combination VII) digitalization. Zhouqu should control the quantity and distribution of digital countryside investments around national policies and local characteristics in the future and make clever use of limited resources to ensure that it does not fall behind in the wave of rural digitalization in Gansu. For example, it should respond to national policy requirements to overcome school networking difficulties, optimize the construction of education information technology infrastructure, achieve full broadband network coverage in rural elementary schools and township primary and secondary boarding schools and promote the full popularization of online teaching in all schools across the county. Moreover, it should explore the regional and humanistic characteristics of Zhouqu, organize the census of Tibetan cultural resources, the protection and utilization of traditional villages and historical and cultural towns, the digitalization of intangible cultural heritage and explore the construction of a “digital cultural relics resource library”, “digital exhibition hall”, “intelligent cultural station” and “digital bookstore”.