A global venture capital conference is held in Shinan on May 8. [Photo/WeChat account: qdweishinan]

The 2021 Qingdao Global Venture Capital Conference was launched on May 8 in the Shinan district of Qingdao city – located in in East China's Shandong province – according to local media reports.

Shinan – immersed in Qingdao's politics, economy, culture and tourism – is regarded as a key driver, helping to power the development of the city's resources and its environment.

It is now reportedly developing a fresh new platform for international cooperation. It is expected to boost Yellow River basin environmental protection and the region's development, as well as spur the Jiaodong Peninsula integration development strategy and speed up the construction of a modern international city core area.

Gao Jian – deputy secretary of the Party committee of Shinan and head of the district – told the conference that over the past year, with only a fraction of the total land of Qingdao, it generated 10 percent of the city's total economic output and 20 percent of the total income from the modern services industry, with 95,400 market players flourishing and 588,800 residents living and working happily there.

There are currently 128 innovation platforms at or above the municipal level in the Shinan district.

The SCO Member Technology Transfer Center in Shanghai  has become the first new platform for international scientific and technological cooperation – integrating marketization, internationalization and specialization in China, with its occupancy rate expected to reach 80 percent this year. It has 35 industrial internet storage and cultivation projects and 52 leading services providers.

In terms of the digital economy, Shinan has taken the lead in building a 5G gigabit, broadband gigabit double-gigabit demonstration area. In so doing, it has installed 809 base stations and is working with Hisense Group to implement a 5G+ new-type smart city demonstration area project, in order to promote full coverage of the 5G network.

Shinan is one of the urban areas with the most concentrated and diverse financial institutions in Shandong province. As such, it is home to 137 financial institutions of various types, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the total number based in the city. Among these are 29 are banking institutions above the branch level, 35 are insurance institutions, while 43 are securities institutions and 23 are futures institutions.

In 2020, the added value of the finance industry in Shinan accounted for 22.9 percent of its GDP, making it the leading sector in the district. The added value of the sector is projected to account for 33 percent of the added value of the finance industry in Qingdao – and it has proved to be the mainstay of the sector in Qingdao.

Last year the district also rolled out its most ambitious financial development policy to date – offering publicly funded companies, as well as risk management subsidiaries a maximum grant of 150 million yuan ($23.3 million).