Government departments in Hangzhou are accelerating their efforts to improve "Qinqing Online", a new online platform launched by Hangzhou on March 2, aiming to develop the platform into a direct channel connecting governments and enterprises.

Statistics showed that as of March 9, nearly 370,000 employees from 114,000 companies had received 336 million yuan ($48.31 million) in subsidies from the platform.

Part of the so-called "City Brain", an intelligent and smart system aimed at improving the city's urban governance, the new platform is designed to bring government departments and companies closer by building a service system on the internet.

The first two services – incentives for commercial and trading enterprises with a yearly tax payment of less than 500,000 yuan and rent subsidies for enterprise employees – were launched on March 2 at the same time the platform was launched.

According to Dai Jianping, executive vice-mayor of Hangzhou, the city has had success in the fight against the novel coronavirus based on its exploration into advanced technologies and the digital economy, such as implementing a health code system and an online service platform to help companies resume work.

"The new platform is an extension of these attempts and we hope to build a more precise and direct system to offer services to companies," added Dai.

"The platform makes it possible for companies to submit requests online and immediately receive a response from government departments," he said at the launch ceremony in Hangzhou.

According to Dai, policies and government affairs will be released on the platform, and users are able to evaluate government services online.

A research team led by Wang Jian, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, recently visited a number of companies to learn what they thought of the newly-released platform.

The positive response strengthened Wang's belief in the significance of the platform. Some employees said that they never thought subsidies could be transferred to their personal account in such a direct manner.

Government departments at all levels have made significant efforts to promote the platform. Ever since the platform was launched on March 2, it has been visited by more than 77 million people.

According to an official at the Hangzhou development and reform committee, the platform receives as many reviews per day as the official website of Hangzhou does in a week.

The Hangzhou government and technical departments are currently working to develop more functions for the platform to meet the diverse needs of companies.

The interface of  "Qinqing Online", a new platform designed to bring government departments and companies closer together through an internet service system [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]