Shandong metropolis swimming in success tha
As a hub of the modern marine economy, Qingdao in East China’s Shandong province has 18 research institutes and 34 high-level R&D platforms for marine sciences and technologies, and is home to nearly 33 percent of China’s top professionals in the field, according to Zhang Jiangting, Party chief of Qingdao.
In 2017, the gross output value of Qingdao’s marine economy was 290.9 billion yuan ($45.5 billion), an increase of 15.7 percent yearon-year, accounting for 26.4 percent of the city’s GDP and 20.8 percent of the marine economy output value in Shandong, according to the Qingdao Bureau of Statistics.
An evaluation report called the National Marine Innovation Index 2016, which was issued by the China Association of Marine Affairs in September last year, showed that the average return-on-investment ratio of the marine science and technology sectors in Qingdao was 0.835, ranking it first among cities in the country.
By taking advantage of the advanced marine technology development, Zhang said, Qingdao has been continuously optimizing the industrial structure in marine-related sectors. Emerging sectors such as marine equipment manufacturing, bio-medicines and seawater desalination have been highlighted as new growth drivers and important means to support the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.