Chongqing municipality in Southwest China recently released its work plan (2022-2025) to stimulate the development of the software and information service industry.

The goal to achieve is that by 2025, the municipality plans to have a total office building area of 2 million square meters, accommodating more than 10,000 operators in the sector. By then, Chongqing hopes to have an additional 200,000 more software and information service practitioners, and the whole business scale is expected to reach 500 billion yuan ($73.95 billion).

Zhou Qing, a senior official of the municipal government, said that software and information service practitioners are usually young with relatively higher standards for living and socializing, which makes complete supporting facilities and services a necessity. Office buildings boast a strong innovation and entrepreneurship atmosphere and a high-quality living environment are suitable for business.

The software and information service includes industrial software, game development software and basic software, and most software and information service providers are small and medium-sized enterprises, which can absorb more employment and stimulate young people's creativity.

Chongqing has full-fledged industrial categories, all of which need software and information service companies to help them achieve digital transformation and upgrading.

Relevant government officials are urged to establish a specific work mechanism for the sector's development, hold meetings on a regular basis to address problems in their work, and formulate a to-do list for a special team responsible for the sector.

Central urban areas are encouraged to release supporting measures to further complete the infrastructure for talent and companies in the software and information service industry. Relevant preferential housing, renting, and furnishing policies will also be put in place soon.

Government departments and State-owned units are advised to release their application scenario lists to cultivate a group of innovative software companies with huge potential. Chongqing has already issued 45 projects related to scenarios such as smart cities, public data openness, and the national strategy to channel computing resources from east to west.