Jinan ranked 32nd on worldwide scientific research city list

Jinan has been ranked 32nd in the "Nature Index 2023 - Research Cities" list released by Nature journal, rising four places from the previous year.

Jinan's overall research and development investment accounted for 2.88 percent of the total social expenditure in 2023. It is estimated that over 1,100 new high-tech enterprises have emerged, with the city's technology contracts reaching 80.65 billion yuan ($11.28 billion), the highest in Shandong province.

Jinan is presently home to 11 national key laboratories, three provincial laboratories, and 112 provincial key laboratories. There are 32 national enterprise technology centers, 30 provincial technology innovation centers, and 272 academician workstations. The city has 71 provincial-level new R&D institutions, formed over 200 research teams, and attracted more than 5,000 young researchers.

The year 2023 marked the beginning of Shandong's role as a pioneer region for green, low-carbon, and high-quality development. Jinan, as the provincial capital, has accelerated the transition between old and new growth drivers.

For example, the Jinan Start-up Area for Growth Drivers Transformation introduced 162 high-quality projects with a total investment of nearly 400 billion yuan in 2023.

Over the past year, Jinan's six major industries, including integrated circuits and aerospace information, and 10 iconic industrial cluster chains have grown rapidly. The city's four pillar industries – big data and next-generation information technology, intelligent manufacturing and high-end equipment, high-quality steel and advanced materials, and biopharmaceuticals and healthcare – reached a scale of 1.6 trillion yuan.

The promotion of the digital RMB has also brought convenience to the public and empowered the development of the real economy in Jinan. By the end of October last year, Jinan had opened 2.12 million digital RMB wallets that handled 9.86 million transactions amounting to 44.5 billion yuan. The number of merchants and stores supporting digital RMB settlement was 303,400. The total transaction volume of the digital RMB exceeded 6.3 billion yuan last year.

Jinan will continue to implement innovation-driven development, adhere to the coordinated integration of education, science and technology, and talent, and accelerate the aggregation of more high-end and high-quality innovative resources to enhance high-quality development in 2024.