Qingdao’s comprehensive and multi-faceted smart city program uses digital innovation to ensure the well-being of citizens and their good quality of life. ‘Smart Social Insurance’ People’s Livelihood Service Platform is part of the Smart Qingdao framework established in 2013 under the Qingdao Municipal People’s Government.

Employment and financial stability are at the core of citizen’s well-being. The Smart Employment Platform is a part of this program and was developed to decrease unemployment and misallocation of human resources. It is a cloud-based management platform that compiles information for the city’s entire working-age population. It contains extensive databases on companies’ employee information, including number of labor resources, status of personnel with employment difficulties, job demand, company recruitment demand, etc. This data is used to allocate appropriate candidates to companies, deliver necessary resources, and provide training. Big Data is used to track employment trends and identify future areas of demand.

Qingdao also wanted to address the shortcomings of the traditional social insurance service model through this program. They used technology to get rid of long queues, cash payments, complicated processes, and high administrative costs. Through the program, they introduced a social insurance card, standardized medical insurance and treatment in urban and rural areas, developed a unified medical insurance directory shared among all medical institutions, and introduced online payments for medical treatments. It strengthened the monitoring of medical services to ensure that health insurance funds are well managed. They were also able to develop a ‘mobile medical community nursing’ mobile app to facilitate smooth implementation of the nursing insurance system. This app lets citizens request door-to-door services and medicine delivery. These services were specifically developed to cater to the elderly, people with disabilities, and people with dementia.

The Municipal Government also focused on improving municipal services by opening more communication channels, diversifying their services, and standardizing their services in urban and rural areas. Municipal services are now offered in-person, through self-service kiosks, online websites, mobile apps, and through call centers. Qingdao developed its own ‘people’s livelihood e-station’, an all-in-one self-service kiosk for municipal services.