In January last year, the State Council officially approved the development plan proposed by the Shandong provincial government for the Shandong Peninsula Marine Economic Zone, thereby officially incorporating the zone in the national development strategy.
As the largest port city in Shandong, Qingdao is expected to become a model marine economy at the provincial and national level, said Li Qun, Party chief of Qingdao.
He said the innovation park is the core part of the "Blue Silicon Valley", one of two high-tech zones in Qingdao that support the city's marine economy. The other is the Qingdao New and High-tech Industrial Zone on the coast of West Jiaozhou Bay.
The Blue Silicon Valley, mainly in areas of Laoshan and Jimo county, and the Qingdao New Economic Zone will play a major role in building Qingdao into a national leading marine city, Li added.
The innovation park will include a public service center, commercial areas, a financial center and office buildings for companies' regional headquarters, in addition to a great number of research, development and production facilities.
This year, 48 large projects with investments totaling 110 billion yuan will be built in the Blue Silicon Valley, with many of them to be located in the innovation park. Local authorities are also negotiating with investors on another 150 projects with strategic significance in the emerging industries.
"To promote innovation and technology transfer, Qingdao will attract talented people from home and abroad in marine science and build more R&D facilities," said Li.
Important link
Guan Huashi, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor of the Qingdao-based Ocean University of China, said the innovation park program is an important link for various high-tech projects because it allows for the commercialization of research results.
"Qingdao has a lot of institutes and individuals engaged in tens of thousands of research projects. They have accumulated a great amount of research results waiting for transfer," Guan said.
"The innovation park can facilitate that transfer by creating a positive interaction throughout all parts of the science industry chain," said Guan.
Jiang Bo, director of the Qingdao Science and Technology Commission, said construction of the park is high on the government's agenda.
"From now on, the innovation park will focus on marine economy as well as other emerging and high-tech industries," Jiang said.
By 2016, the total area of the innovation park program will reach 14 square kilometers, including a 400-hectare area for marine industry research, 300 hectares of space for alternative-energy and new-materials research, 200 hectares for software services and advanced manufacturing and a 100-hectare area for cloud computing and communications.
By that time, the innovation park will be fully equipped with technical infrastructure, information network and professional service teams. In 2016, the number of tech companies will surpass 10,000, offering 200,000 job opportunities.
"The implementation of the innovation park program is crucial to Qingdao's economic transformation and will strengthen the city's capacity for innovation," said Jiang. She said the park will also be used as a platform to attract science and technology resources, funds, talented professionals as well as domestic and foreign entrepreneurs.
Local authorities are encouraging research institutes and tech companies from various industrial sectors to form a consortium for closer cooperation in which resources could be integrated and information could be exchanged.
Incentives to offer
To support the development of the park and its enterprises, the city has its own incentives to offer in addition to some preferential national policies in terms of taxation, land use and services.
Jiang said the city offers non-reimbursable subsidies, low-interest loans and investment subsidies for infrastructure construction, staff and entrepreneur training, and business startups.
Newly established businesses are also entitled to special financial support from the government in addition to what is awarded to other businesses.
The city government has invested about 1 billion yuan in building public service facilities for technology transfer. These offer such services as information exchange, technological consultation, guidance for business startups and commercialization of research results.
Additionally, Qingdao will provide its own preferential policies in terms of taxation, financing and land use.
Qingdao Sunrui Marine Environment Engineering Co Ltd is among the many tech enterprises benefiting from the preferential policies.
"With the help of these incentives, many of our research findings can be commercialized quickly, ensuring our leading position in the corrosion control and water treatment businesses," said Wang Hongren, deputy general manager of the company.
Jiang said the innovation park will be developed according to a globalized vision and based on international standards.
Considering the park's advantages, Jiang said its successful operation will eventually help the city lead the nation's marine economy.
"With its rich marine resources, advantages in ocean research findings as well as preferential policies, Qingdao is set to provide premier opportunities to scientists, research institutes and entrepreneurs from home and abroad," said Jiang.
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