Abstract
Against the backdrop of the digital economy becoming a core engine for high-quality regional economic development and Shandong accelerating the construction of a digital province, this paper identifies the industrial life cycle of Shandong’s digital economy from 2011 to 2025 using the Logistic model. An evaluation index system is established covering four dimensions: digital infrastructure, digital industrialization, industrial digitalization, and digital governance. With the entropy weight method, it measures the digital economy development level of 16 prefecture-level cities in Shandong from 2020 to 2024 and analyzes its temporal and spatial evolution. The results show that Shandong’s digital economy is in the early growth stage, with a saturation value of 1,3986.552 billion yuan and projected growth peak in 2027. All cities achieved steady development, while the gap between leading and lagging cities widened slightly with an obvious Matthew effect. A stable three-tier spatial pattern has formed, featuring a layout of stronger east, weaker west, faster south, slower north. Industrial digitalization and digital governance serve as core driving forces, and the growth driver has shifted from infrastructure to industrial integration and technological innovation. Corresponding policy suggestions are put forward to support the balanced and high-quality development of Shandong’s digital economy.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Wen Jiang, Yijiu Ding
