The zone hosted a meeting on April 20 and invited representatives from Wanlong to share the company's experiences in partnering with leading research institutes to support its business upgrade and its transformation.

"It is painful to perform industrial transformation. We invested a lot in seeking the right people and advanced technologies," Liu said.

Liu said Wanlong used profits generated from its traditional businesses to support the development of new projects.

Sun Dexiu, chairman of Shandong Hangwei Orthopedics Medical Instrument Co, said that the meeting was inspiring for businesses.

"Companies need to have courage to enhance their core competitiveness. They should not begrudge the money spent on innovation," Sun said.

The zone's authority decided to regularly host gatherings for companies that have successfully accomplished industrial upgrades, so business managers can have more opportunities to exchange ideas and solve problems.

"We hope the business and institute cooperation model can be adopted by other businesses in the zone, so as to support the zone's long-term industrial growth," said Guo Deyong, head of the Commission for Discipline Inspection in the zone's Economic Development Bureau.

Establishing collaboration between companies and leading research institutes is a practical way to maintain local economic growth, according to the zone's official.

In addition to its existing recruitment and training policies, more personalized policies will be rolled out to lure professionals to the zone to support business innovation, according to zone officials.

Guo said the zone will soon release two policies to encourage high-growth and technically driven small and medium-sized enterprises, paying more attention to enhancing research, innovation, technological upgrades and design capabilities.