Sci-tech innovation used to fuel city's development

Qingdao issues policies to aid profitable progress of core industry

With the goal of building a technologically strong city with core competitiveness, Qingdao in East China's Shandong province has taken scientific and technological innovation as the hallmark of regional economic and social development and injected impetus into the nation's new quality productive forces.

Li Tianchuan, director at the Qingdao bureau of science and technology, said sci-tech is a field that requires continuous reform. Qingdao adheres to the dual-drive of sci-tech and institutions, focusing on reform in four major aspects: the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, investment, industry, and management.

He mentioned that from an institutional perspective, Qingdao is introducing an array of incentive policies to assist the transformation of sci-tech achievements.

The city also recruits talents with strategic thinking, experience and innovative capabilities to lead cutting-edge research projects. The first batch of which will focus on areas such as synthetic biology, biomedicine, artificial intelligence and tech services, Li noted.

Currently, Qingdao can claim more than 3,000 sci-tech achievements and it has established 23 national-level incubators and 70 innovation spaces. The city's ranking in the Global Innovation Index 2024, which was released by the World Intellectual Property Organization in September, has risen from 80 in 2019 to 20 this year.

Qingdao has also introduced a stable growth mechanism for special funds and guided the mobilization of social capital to support innovation.

Data show that the local government — in conjunction with central State-owned enterprises and industry institutions — has established 144 funds with a total value of 145.9 billion yuan ($20.18 billion). They have invested in more than 520 projects led by enterprises such as Kengic Intelligent Technology, AInnovation, and Yisa.

At the same time, Qingdao focuses on major strategic and industrial needs, laying out more than 100 sci-tech projects each year.

For instance, it has built demonstration projects in liquid crystal display terminals, virtual reality and perovskite solar cells. It has also delivered the world's first 100,000-ton large-scale aquaculture vessel and unveiled the world's first commercial carbon-fiber subway train.

Furthermore, Qingdao has launched key projects such as the Qingdao branch of the Jingjinji National Center of Technology Innovation, the Qingdao research institute of Beihang University, and Inspur's AI research center; and it is nurturing advanced manufacturing clusters for smart home appliances and rail transit equipment; established six new industrial demonstration bases; and possesses six national-level characteristic industry clusters for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Technological innovation serves as the fundamental driving force for the new industrialization, said Liu Dachuan, director of the Qingdao bureau of industry and information technology.

He added that in recent years, Qingdao has leveraged the role of enterprises as the main force of innovation. The industrial sector has contributed more than 60 percent of the city's total societal research and development investment, Liu added.

As an example, key companies including Haier and Hisense in the smart home appliance industry are leading the wave of technological innovation through their own iterative upgrades. They have shed the label of "traditional home appliances" and are moving toward smart home appliances, the industrial internet, and the internet of things.

To date, the city houses more than 9,300 national sci-tech SMEs, nearly 8,000 national high-tech enterprises, 190 "hidden champions", 39 national manufacturing single champions, and 17 unicorn enterprises.

Qingdao has stated its aim is to double five key indicators by 2028: the number of technology-based enterprises, the total amount of R&D funds in society, the number of innovation platforms at or above provincial level, the amount of technology contract transactions, and the number of technology brokers.

The city is making strides in boosting the integration of technology and industry, building a modern industrial system led by tech innovation, bolstering advantageous industries such as smart home appliances, rail transit equipment, and high-end chemicals, and starting a new round of equipment automation and digital upgrades.

It will develop clusters in strategic emerging industries such as next-generation information technology, AI, new energy, and new materials, laying out more than 100 key technology projects and major technological demonstration projects each year.

The automatic wharf at Qingdao Port. CHINA DAILY