A ceremony was held on Wednesday in Laoshan district in eastern Qingdao to highlight its industrial transformation and the 20 projects that will begin operations in the area with an investment of 30 billion yuan ($4.61 billion).

The projects, spread over a combined area of 3.5 million square meters, cover finance, information services, industrial design, the culture and creative industry, research and development, smart hardware, new energy, new materials and marine biomedicine.

The projects will be located in the area around Zhuzhou road, an industrial base with 168 high-tech companies.

"The new projects launched on Wednesday will help refine the area's industrial chain, bringing in more new technologies, new industries and new models and further boost the quality of the regional economy," said Qi Jiabin, the Party chief of Laoshan and a member of the standing committee of CPC Qingdao.

Last year, companies in this area applied for 5,075 patents, up 27.5 percent from 2014, and 1,241 patents were approved, a 70 percent increase from 2014.

The area is home to Haier Industrial Park, the eastern part of which will soon expand with a 40-hectare urban complex complete with financial services, e-commerce service providers, startup incubators, shopping centers and entertainment facilities. It is hoping to attract more than 800 technology companies and 20,000 high-end workers to generate 40 billion yuan in revenue.

The Aucma Smart Industrial Park project, behind a 4 billion yuan investment, will serve as a R&D center and startup incubator for more than 200 small and medium-sized companies. The R&D center will focus on smart home appliances, ultralow temperature cooling technologies, cold chain logistics and vending machines. The project is expected to generate an annual revenue of 3 billion yuan. From April 22 to 24, it hosted the "China Good Tech-Overseas Talent Innovation and Startup Competition", with 29 high-end candidate projects in healthcare, smart hardware, energy conservation and exploration and marine technology participating.

Jiang Duntao, head of the Laoshan district government, said the district has set up a 1 billion yuan industrial investment fund for emerging industries and has built up various startup incubators to help entrepreneurs realize their dreams by partnering with China's top venture fund managers and tech investors. It has thus far attracted 26 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering. It is home to 13 national post-doctoral science and technology research workstations, as well as 27 mobile workstations, with more than 1,200 employees involved.

"This year we will strive to improve the efficiency and quality of our economy by enhancing talent strategy with the principle of innovation, green development and open, shared cooperation," Jiang said at the launch ceremony.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

Qingdao Mayor Zhang Xinqi (sixth from left) and Laoshan district Party chief Qi Jiabin (first from right) attend a ceremony on Wednesday to mark the launching of 20 projects in Qingdao's Laoshan district.Photos Provided To China Daily

(China Daily 04/29/2016 page10)