An aerial photo of Liangjiang New Area Digital Economy Industrial Park. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

A conference themed on the development of the software and information service development industry was held in Liangjiang New Area of Southwest China's Chongqing municipality on Sept 22, in which a work plan (starting from 2022 to 25) and a slew of special policies for the industry were issued.

A total of 11 agreements on software and information service projects were signed, involving 7.78 billion yuan ($1.09 billion) in investment.

The event demonstrated the new area's resolution to upgrade the sector in all respects. The Chongqing government proposed that it will pay special attention to the software and information business in June this year. Over the first seven months of 2022, Liangjiang registered 47.9 billion yuan in the business scale of the sector, accounting for 24.6 percent of Chongqing's total. In addition, the new area is home to 5,500 business operators in the area.

According to the meeting, the new area will mainly focus on five development directions – industrial software, automobile software, emerging platform software, industrial application software, and digital content, by upgrading the related operators, cultivating more market entities, creating more application scenarios, attracting and bringing in more talent, and completing the industrial ecosystem in this field.

A favorable environment is also vital to developing the software and information service industry. The environment in Liangjiang currently is characterized by three core areas – Liangjiang Software Park, Lijia Yuelai Smart Park, and Chongqing Automobile Software Industrial Park – as well as several special office buildings and talent communities attracting software and information service talents and cultivating new business models.

The new area's government is also trying to redouble its support of the sector in terms of personnel recruitment, supporting facilities and policy formulation. There are in total 101 software and information service application scenario projects underway in Liangjiang.