Qingdao fuels digital transformation and growth

The eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province will continue to build a digital city in its newest round of upgrades, and advance the modernization of urban governance system and capacity so as to improve people's livelihoods, said local authorities.

Qingdao was ranked seventh in the 2020 Top 100 Chinese Digitalized Cities ranking, which was released on Dec 18, 2020 by CCID Consulting, a firm affiliated with a think tank under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The ranking evaluated the level of digital construction in 293 Chinese cities.

According to local officials, the city is accelerating its digital layout to improve governance and livelihoods, promote the integrated development of the digital economy and the real economy, and foster new industries and new business forms.

The city has launched an online application, which includes more than 7,000 administrative procedures, to allow the public to handle government affairs without having to travel to administration centers.

At the beginning of the year, Qingdao hosted a series of working meetings to highlight the construction of a digital city and improve the overall performance of urban development, governance, and operation.

Qingdao officials also made tours to Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou to learn from their advanced practices in digital urban construction and fostering new economic growth drivers.

The city will continue to formulate feasible plans of digital transformation, especially in strengthening the data application in social governance, convenient service, public security, business innovation, and industrial development, said local officials.