Tai'an forges innovative paths for industrial development

Tai'an, a city in East China's Shandong province, has been keenly supporting emerging industries, developing featured industrial chains, and promoting the upgrading of traditional industries to enhance its high-quality development.

Statistics showed that the added value of industries above designated scale in Tai'an increased by 11.2 percent year-on-year, 4.1 percentage points higher than the provincial rate in the first three quarters of this year.

Cargos are loaded to ships at Dongping Port, Tai'an. [Photo by Chen Yang/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

According to Yang Hongtao, Party secretary of Tai'an, the city is working on advancing its four key industries: high-end manufacturing, new materials, modern food, and high-end chemicals. Furthermore, it is also prioritizing growth in sectors such as new energy, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, publishing, textiles, and the digital industry.

In Dongping county, a functional paper base and auxiliary materials project with an investment of 1.3 billion yuan ($178.5 million) is currently under construction. When complete, the base will become the only manufacturer of liquid crystal display panel spacer materials in China.

This project will address critical technical challenges in the domestic panel spacer materials, including poor thermal conductivity, high levels of trace elements, and severe charge accumulation.

A production line of Helios Power, a company focusing on building integrated photovoltaics in Feicheng, Tai'an. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

In Feicheng, a county-level city of Tai'an, a complete lithium battery supply chain has been established, encompassing raw materials, production, and recycling.

The city is also promoting the integrated development of construction and building materials with new energy sector. The building materials manufactured by Helios Power can facilitate green electricity generation of buildings of and reducing carbon emissions.

The local government has been providing substantial support in terms of policies, funds and scientific and technological services to help with local companies' sci-tech innovation and industrial transformation endeavors.

Staff members of Prettech monitor production lines via a digital system in Taishan district, Tai'an on Oct 30. [Photo by Li Mingrui/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

From January to September, the city's investment in industrial technological transformation increased by 18.9 percent year-on-year.

Prettech, a food equipment manufacturing company in Taishan district, has been able to develop an automated welding production line and welding robots of international standards with the help of the local government.

These innovations have in turn improved the company's efficiency levels. The company currently operates two national R&D platforms and four provincial R&D platforms.

Tai'an is currently home to 704 high-tech enterprises. The output value of the high-tech industry accounts for 63.7 percent of all of the city's industries.

The city is expected to cultivate five industrial chains or clusters with a scale ranging from 20 to 100 billion yuan, and four industrial chains or clusters with a scale of 10 billion yuan by 2025, according to Yang.