SSRScientific and Social Research2661-43322981-9946Bio-Byword Scientific Publishing Pty. Ltd.10.26689/ssr.v8i9.15778ArticleResearch on Digital Trade Empowering Digital Innovation in Dalian’s Traditional Enterpriseshttps://artdesignp.com/journal/SSR/8/9/10.26689/ssr.v8i9.15778JiShinuo2026892026-10-21As an emerging modality of trade, digital trade serves as a critical conduit for deepening the integration between the digital economy and the real economy, injecting renewed momentum into the digital innovation endeavors of traditional enterprises. Nevertheless, in the course of leveraging digital trade to advance digital innovation, traditional enterprises in Dalian continue to grapple with a set of persistent challenges: integration that remains superficial, transformation that lacks depth, infrastructure that proves inadequate, and competitiveness that falls short of expectations. To promote the deeper convergence of Dalian’s digital and real economies and to facilitate the upgrading of its traditional advantageous industries toward higher-end, intelligent, and globally oriented development, there is an urgent need to guide and support traditional enterprises in treating digital trade as both a breakthrough point and a catalyst for digital innovation—one that enables the renewal and reshaping of production processes, business models, and positions within global value chains. Accordingly, this study employs in-depth interviews, benchmarking analysis, and other methods to put forward targeted recommendations, including the creation of industry-specific industrial internet platforms and concerted efforts in key technology breakthroughs, with the aim of accelerating Dalian’s traditional enterprises in their strategic transition from conventional manufacturing to digital intelligent manufacturing and from product export to brand going global.Digital trade, Innovation in traditional enterprises, Digital innovation

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