Promoting Digital Transformation: A New Empowerment Era for Small and Medium Enterprises

According to a message released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on December 13, the ministry, along with three other departments, has jointly published the "Special Action Plan for the Digital Empowerment of Small and Medium Enterprises (2025-2027)." This plan aims to systematically promote the digital transformation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from a partial to a holistic approach, and from surface-level to in-depth changes.

The plan sets clear goals, stating that by 2027, it will ensure that the "Hundred Cities" pilot projects achieve significant results, guarantee that all specialized and innovative SMEs complete their digital transformation, and cultivate a group of benchmark enterprises with digital levels reaching three or four. The digital level of specialized and innovative SMEs in pilot provinces should reach level two or above, the numerical control rate of key processes in large-scale industrial SMEs nationwide will reach 75%, and the cloud adoption rate among SMEs will exceed 40%. Additionally, an initial digital transformation ecosystem for SMEs will be established, featuring coordination between ministries and provincial governments, collaboration among large, medium, and small enterprises, matching supply and demand in key scenarios, and a well-developed public service system to promote the development of SMEs in terms of specialization, refinement, distinctiveness, and innovation.

The plan also outlines seven key tasks, including deepening the "Hundred Cities" pilot projects, implementing digital transformation in a tiered manner, promoting the digital transformation of industrial chains and industrial clusters, advancing the innovative application of artificial intelligence technologies, fully releasing the value of data resources from SMEs, enhancing the quality and efficiency of digital transformation supply, and increasing the public service capacity for digital transformation.

Furthermore, the plan requires actively implementing the "One Chain, One Policy, One Batch" financing promotion action for small and micro enterprises, which aims to meet the financing needs of SMEs for digital transformation through market-oriented approaches. It supports local governments in providing interest subsidy support for SME digital transformation projects and regularly organizes industry-specific financing matchmaking activities. Financial institutions are encouraged to develop specialized credit products to support the digital transformation of SMEs and to provide credit enhancement services through financing guarantee companies. Additionally, the plan calls for the in-depth implementation of science and technology innovation and technical renovation re-loan policies, as well as financial interest subsidy policies for equipment updates, to increase financial support for SMEs' technical renovations and equipment updates, particularly for digital transformation.