The number of high-tech companies in the northeastern province of Jilin rose sharply to 899 in 2018 from 524 in 2017, up by 71.56 percent year-on-year and hitting a new record high, according to local officials.

They said the result was due to the efforts made last year by the province’s Department of Science and Technology to carry out reforms and bring in top minds to better serve local companies.

Jilin increased the frequency of registering high-tech enterprises from once a year to twice a year, reduced application forms from five to two documents, developed electronic evaluations and approval software, helped enterprises solve problems that occurred during the applications process, and promoted preferential policies to encourage more companies to apply for registration as a high-tech company.

The province’s science and technology department organized a total of eight training sessions to help streamline high-tech enterprise policies and over 10 preferential policy promotion conferences in 2018, which involved the participation of over 1,000 individuals and nearly 1,000 enterprises.

The training helped the businesses gain a better understanding of the corporate applications process, as well as the importance of science and technological innovation to a company’s transformation and upgrading.

Officials said the department would further improve its services to high-tech enterprises, enable more high-quality companies to benefit from preferential tax policies, and promote the high-quality development of companies in the current year, so as to realize the commercial revitalization of the province.