China to support around 300 service platforms for small and medium-sized enterprises

BEIJING China will support around 300 service platforms to help with the digital transformation of 4,000-6,000 small and medium-sized enterprises until 2025, the country's industry and information technology ministry and finance ministry said on Wednesday.

The central government plans to support local governments to carry out digital transformation pilots for small and medium-sized enterprises from 2022 to 2025, the ministries said in a joint statement.

In 2022 alone, the central government plans to support around 100 service platforms with incentives to speed up the digitalisation of firms. The maximum reward for each platform should not exceed 6 million yuan $885,373 for each platform to help 10 firms complete their digital transformation. According to the statement, 63 were made.

The statement said that the programme will target key industries such as the manufacture of automobile parts, electronic equipment and pharmaceutical and chemical products.

Small firms are the mainstay of China's economy and major source of jobs, but many of them have been hit hard by stringent COVID-related curbs this year.

The Cyberspace Administration of China said in late 2021 the country will achieve decisive progress in digitalisation by the year 2025, a transformation that the country sees as a path to a stronger and more efficient economy.

In 2021, the China Academy of Information and Communications reported that the digital economy contributed for 39.8 per cent of China's gross domestic product and reached 45.5 trillion yuan.