The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made important deployments for building a network power, a digital China, a smart society, and accelerating the development of the digital economy. The digital transformation of national economy and society has accelerated in an all-round way, and the leading role of information technology in innovation has become increasingly prominent. For implementation of relevant national strategies and strengthen the popularization of key information technology expertise, the State Information Center recently organized experts to write a "Reader for Frontier Information Technology", which has been officially published by People's Publishing House. The Reader provides a systematic and general explanation on eight frontier technologies such as blockchain, big data, and 5G, which can provide help for leaders at all levels and the general public to recognize technology trends and understand technology application scenarios.

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made important deployments for building a network power, a digital China, a smart society, and accelerating the development of the digital economy. The digital transformation of national economy and society has accelerated in an all-round way, and the leading role of information technology in innovation has become increasingly prominent. For implementation of relevant national strategies and strengthen the popularization of key information technology expertise, the State Information Center recently organized experts to write a "Reader for Frontier Information Technology", which has been officially published by People's Publishing House. The Reader provides a systematic and general explanation on eight frontier technologies such as blockchain, big data, and 5G, which can provide help for leaders at all levels and the general public to recognize technology trends and understand technology application scenarios.

The Reader proposes that the human society is accelerating into the era of information civilization. In the new historical period, new technologies such as blockchain, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence have increasingly become indispensable for the modernization of national governance systems and governance capabilities. It is one of the basic qualities of Party members and cadres to learn the basic concepts, operating mechanisms, development trends and innovative effects of new technologies. It is also one of the public courses for the public to keep up with the innovation pulse of the times.

By focusing on the real needs of the readers to understand new technologies and selecting cutting-edge technologies that are closely related to the development of the digital economy, the Reader wrote in an easy-to-understand language by skipping unnecessary technical details. It also tries to make readers achieve the following goals: first, forming a cognitive framework by combing and summarizing the revolution of information technology, which will make readers grasp the overall connections between new technologies and development context; secondly, grasping the essence of technology. It is necessary to clarify the definition of technology, the main innovation progress and key application value in solving economic and social issues; thirdly, clarifying the development trend by analyzing the outlook and far-reaching impact of new technologies. It can provide support for policy makers and researchers at all levels in formulating major strategies, key policies, and research on major issues.

The Reader consists of nine chapters, namely:

Chapter 1 Overview of the Frontier Information Technology

Chapter 2 Blockchain: A weapon to optimize production relations

Chapter 3 Big Data: New Production Factors of the Digital Economy

Chapter 4 Cloud Computing: A New Production Tool for the Digital Economy

Chapter 5 Artificial Intelligence: New Productivity in the Digital Economy

Chapter 6 5G: Quantitative change leading to qualitative change and innovation

Chapter 7 Industrial Internet: Forging National Competitive Power

Chapter 8 The Internet of Things: Towards an Internet of Everything