Jinan government representatives are awarded at the ninth Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) held in Barcelona, Spain on Nov 19. [Photo/WeChat account: inspurgroup]

Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, won the Industry Digital Transformation Award at the ninth Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) held in Barcelona, Spain on Nov 19.

SCEWC is the world's largest smart city expo, and this year's event has attracted more than 25,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors from more than 700 cities in around 140 countries.

The Industry Digital Transformation Award is the world's most prestigious honor recognizing the development of smart cities. The selection of Jinan for the award shows that the city is being recognized worldwide for its efforts to improve urban management through the use of advanced technology.

In recent years, the local government has been attaching a lot of importance to developing Jinan into a smart city, aiming to improve governance to benefit locals and boost industrial development.

The city has cooperated with high-tech giants such as Inspur Group Co to establish a number of online service platforms involving finance, social security, health insurance, business registration, and more for businesses and individuals.

The smart city management center in Jinan [Photo/WeChat account: inspurgroup]

For example, Yidaitong, a financing platform established by the local government, allows entrepreneurs to apply for loans online without the need to visit a bank or submit paper documents.

Since it was launched in 2018, the platform has funded 110,000 local small and micro firms, as well as many individual businesses now valued at more than 2.8 billion yuan($397.88 million).

In addition, the city has introduced all-in-one digital healthcare cards for local residents. By simply downloading the app onto their mobile phones, they can register, pay medical bills, check examination results, and apply for commercial health insurance. 

An intelligent traffic management system has also been installed throughout the city. It currently monitors 820 intersections, controlling signal lights based on traffic conditions and offering data to help improve the city's transportation network.

All of these developments have been made possible by a smart city management center the city established in May. Massive amounts of data about government work, traffic conditions, and public facilities are gathered here and used to support industrial production and improve daily life.