INDUSTRIALIZATION and information should be merged to help shift China's economic development model, according to senior government officials.

"Information technology has accelerated the upgrading of the manufacturing industry and China is making full use of information technology to develop new energy," Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said at the Global City Informatization Forum in Shanghai on Saturday.

Wan said that information resources need to be more fully tapped and shared because the demographic differences between urban and rural areas are still huge.

Yang Xueshan, vice minister of industry and information technology, said that although "significant progress has been made in public administration, manufacturing and the service industry through the introduction of information technology ... the level is still far away from social and economic development."

Wider use of information in urban life can help solve urgent problems as China urbanizes, they said.

Shanghai will also focus on this strategic industry to promote economic restructuring and optimization.

"We'll also step up efforts in the research and commercialization of new technologies in the IT sector and increase their utilization in all aspects of the industry chain," said Wang Jian, director of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization.