Developers invited to contribute to Suishenban service platform

Developers have been invited to take part in a contest involving Suishenban, Shanghai's one-stop public service app, to enrich its functions to improve urban services and governance digitally, covering everything from transport and education to healthcare, Shanghai Daily learned on Tuesday.

Suishenban, meaning "city services in your pocket" in Chinese, is an app that connects hospitals, banks, carriers, schools, government bureaus and various other organizations.

The contest, which runs to October, offers more than a dozen "tracks" for applicants, such as digital finance, intelligent social insurance, smart care for the elderly and digital campuses. The prize pool is around 800,000 yuan (US$111,111), according to the Shanghai Municipal Data Bureau.

As a leading digitalized city, Shanghai has always been improving urban services and governance through innovative technologies. Suishenma maximizes the help for citizens and enterprises to access all kinds of services easily, and facilitates citizens' lives, enterprise services and urban governance, said Xu Huili, deputy secretary-general of Shanghai and the data bureau's chief.

So far, more than 7.44 million people have used the Suishenma code to take Metro lines, more than 740,000 people have swiped the code to go to exhibitions and performances; more than 1.1 million people have accessed medical insurance through Suishenma and more than 1.63 million people have swiped the code to access government services.

This is the second Suishenban app contest held in Shanghai. Several functions, featured in the first contest, are now online.

One new service concerned old trees and streetlights, which can be easily managed and earmarked for repair or special care.

Meanwhile, people with the codes can enjoy medical services and the Metro, even without needing social security cards, credit cards or transport cards. Suishenban is able to connect to people's identities and credit records, government officials said on Tuesday.