A public service big data platform developed by a Fuzhou-based software company (ZHANG RENFENG)   

In Goosun, an egg farm in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province in southeast China, 600,000 laying hens start the day at 4 a.m. every morning to lights that are activated automatically and breakfast served by a conveyor belt. A 1-meter-high robot then strolls around, using its sensors to collect data, including temperature, humidity and light, for better management. 

In Fuzhou, which has been building itself into a model of the digital economy, digitalization is now a common trend for companies and factories across industries. 

A passenger checks in at a subway station in Fuzhou using the facial recognition system on May 14 (CHEN NUAN) 

Digitalized factories 

"The more digital we become, the more we benefit from it," said Yu Jie, President of Goosun, adding that digital technology enables almost impeccable decision-making as it boasts abundant and comprehensive data, while in the past decisions were based on experience and speculation. 

Thanks to digitalization, which lowers costs and widens profit margins, Yu said his egg farm has withstood the negative impact of the novel coronavirus disease epidemic, maintaining positive growth so far this year. 

Jingfeng, a textile manufacturer based in Fuzhou, said it achieved 10 percent growth in output and profitability between January and August, despite constricted market demand amid the epidemic. 

"As soon as our salespersons input customers' needs into our management app, their information will be matched with data from our factory, such as price, stock and available assembly lines, and the system will decide whether to take orders and arrange delivery or production accordingly," plant manager Fu Chongxian said, adding that the smart system helps the factory save almost 70 million yuan ($10 million) in labor, energy and raw materials costs every year. 

According to a report released at the recent Digital China Summit in Fuzhou, digitalization has driven down costs by 17.6 percent and increased revenue by 22.6 percent for manufacturing enterprises, while logistics enterprises have seen costs falling by 34.2 percent and revenues rising by 33.6 percent. 

A total of 426 projects in the digital sector involving a total investment of 331.6 billion yuan ($49 billion) were signed during the summit. The projects cover fields such as artificial intelligence, 5G, industrial Internet, and blockchain. The investment will promote industrialization of the digital sector and digitalization of the industrial sector, said Zhao Long, Vice Governor of Fujian Province, at the closing ceremony on October 14. 

An intelligent conveyor system at the textile workshop of Fuzhou-based company Jingfeng on September 27 (XINHUA) 

Business environment 

In addition to digitalization, the business environment in Fuzhou has also been improved in recent years to facilitate industrial development. 

In Mawei District, an application was submitted for registering a hotel management company and a license and five seals were issued in a few hours. However, in the past, companies needed to go to designated shops for seals after they got their license. 

In April 2019, Mawei carried out a reform to enable companies to get seals at the same time they collect the license. Now the practice has been adopted across the city. The Fuzhou Administrative Service Center issues business licenses and seals two hours after application. 

Improvement of government services has made business registration more efficient and convenient. 

The commitment to "serving the entire life cycle of a company" aptly captures the business environment of Fuzhou. Fuzhou has pushed forward reforms in key areas and carried out a three-year campaign for optimizing its business environment. The city has rolled out measures for supporting the development of private businesses and provides customized services for companies. 

The Fuzhou Light Industry Import and Export Co. submitted the required documents to the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) at 10 a.m. and received 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) of loans at 8 p.m. on the same day. The Fuzhou branch of China Eximbank opened a "green channel" in February to finish application evaluations in hours to provide loans for the company to facilitate its purchase of anti-epidemic materials. 

Ample financing helps increase development momentum. During the epidemic, securing quick loans to resume production was crucial for an enterprise's survival and development. Fuzhou took a series of measures to improve the efficiency of financial services to make it easier for enterprises, especially private businesses and small and micro enterprises, to get loans. 

Leading financial institutions such as the China Development Bank and the Bank of China have signed strategic cooperation agreements with Fuzhou to support high-quality industrial development. Fuzhou has also strengthened policy support to reduce enterprises' financing costs, encourage financial institutions to issue loans to enterprises and support enterprises to get financing directly from the capital market. 

Going public is an effective way of direct financing. Fuzhou has put in place favorable policies to support enterprises going public and promote a multi-layer capital market. As of mid-September, Fuzhou had 87 listed companies playing a leading role in the city's industrial transformation and upgrading. 

Improved rankings 

According to an evaluation of Fuzhou's business environment by the China Business Environment Research Center of Xiamen University, it is equivalent to the 43rd economy among 190 economies in the world in 2019. The evaluation was conducted based on Doing Business 2019: Training for Reform, a World Bank Group flagship annual publication measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. 

Fuzhou has accomplished the target set in its three-year business environment optimization plan. The plan, released in June 2018, called for improving the city's business environment to the standard of the top 50 economies in the World Bank Doing Business report. 

Fuzhou's business environment now ranks 28th among 190 economies, 15 spots higher than in 2019. 

The improvement of the business environment could not have been done without the government's efforts. According to the 2019 government information disclosure report published by the Fuzhou Government, 2,237 online examination and approval procedures have been standardized. 

Fuzhou has also improved its business environment through digitalization and building a credit system. It has established the Public Service Platform for Small and Medium Enterprises to help enterprises solve their problems. It has also established the Credit Fuzhou website, which enables users to check enterprises' and individuals' credit records. Fuzhou's government services are becoming more open, transparent and efficient through digitalization.