“互联网+生活性服务业”创新试验区落户长宁 - 2016年07月08日

AS more and more people book tickets online, making reservations online and shopping online, the integration of the Internet and people’s life is irresistible. Under these circumstances, Changning District has launched its Internet Plus Life Service Industry Strategy.

Earlier this month, the municipal government gave Changning the green light to set up the city’s first pilot zone for the Internet Plus life service industry in an attempt to foster 20 international brands and 100 elite service companies by 2018.

The zone will be about 37 square kilometers in size, potentially covering the whole district. Administrative approval is not required for the establishment of a service company. Those engaged in health care, health product sales and waste recycling will have a lower threshold as well.

District officials said that 60 Internet Plus service companies, including Ctrip.com, dianping.com and gewara.com, will be among the first group of enterprises to operate in the pilot zone.

Authorities hope to attract public and private investment to the zone and establish a fund for Internet Plus service companies. They will also collect feedback from these companies and report to the municipal government, or even the central government, to assist with policy making.

At present, Changning has more than 100 high-growth Internet Plus life service enterprises, according to Gu Honghui, director of Changning.

“The life service industry refers to businesses that directly provide residents with material and intangible products and services,” Gu said.

“The Internet Plus life service industry is driven by the Internet to promote the innovation of the life service industry,” Gu added.

He also pointed out that the traditional life service industry is facing transformation. It is an opportunity to improve the quality and shift to innovation-driven development.

The modern service industry accounted for around 75 percent of Changning’s tax revenue last year. Much of the total amount came from the information technology service industry, whose output last year reached 70.7 billion yuan (US$10.9 billion), among the highest in all of Shanghai’s business sectors.

Changning has a national-level e-commerce demonstration zone, over 60 influential Internet Plus life service industry enterprises as well as a batch of incubators to serve innovation projects and startup entrepreneurs.

Changning has its own advantages in the application of Internet technology. Amid the construction of Digital Changning and Intelligent Highland, information technologies, including Internet Plus, have been widely applied in the clothing, food, housing and transport market, forming a well-developed industry environment.

Changning is in the west of Shanghai, at a key point between the overseas world and the rest of China. Its innovation demonstrations can impact the city, and even the entire Yangtze River Delta region.

The experimental Internet Plus zone is also seen as a major component of Changning’s economic transformation process.

“We hope it will help the upgrading of our modern service industry and become a new motivation behind Changning’s economic transformation and upgrading,” Gu said.

At the same time, the pilot zone will fulfill the supply-side structural reform by integrating Internet Plus applications into services which involve resident’s daily lives.

“People want a better quality of life, so we shall meet their demands by supplying them with more efficient, convenient, better and safer services,” Gu added.

The Changning government has accelerated the transformation of its functions and relaxed barriers to market access. It has strengthened its credit system, enhanced administrative efficiency, shifted to a new regulatory model and continues to streamline administration.