Qingdao city in East China's Shandong province aims to become a leading area for green, low-carbon and high-quality development. [Photo/WeChat account: qdshbj]

Qingdao city in East China's Shandong province has been focusing on developing 24 key industrial chains so as to become a leading area for green, low-carbon and high-quality development.

On Nov 24, the first F-class heavy-duty gas turbine in Shandong, the natural gas co-generation project Unit 5 of Huadian Qingdao Power Generation Co Ltd, was ignited for the first time. Four days later, construction of the longest offshore natural gas pipeline in China, the Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay underwater gas pipeline, began.

The green Laoshan Bay in Qingdao. [Photo/WeChat account: qdshbj]

In the first three quarters of this year, Qingdao achieved a regional GDP of 1.1 trillion yuan ($165.3 billion), a year-on-year growth of 6 percent.

In terms of marine scientific and technological innovation achievements, Qingdao has unveiled the Ocean Decade Cooperation Center in China and the United Nations Ocean Decade Marine and Climate Cooperation Center. Its public computing power innovation platform for marine artificial intelligence was also approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology.  

Presently, the coverage rate of research and development institutions in Qingdao's large-scale industrial enterprises stands at 85 percent. There are 6,680 high-tech enterprises and over 9,000 small and medium-sized technology companies in Qingdao, the most in Shandong. Qingdao has established 20 centers for digital transformation and 82 laboratories in key industries.

Qingdao boasts stunning natural views. [Photo by Wang Haibin/for chinadaily.com.cn]

Qingdao has organized over 30 economic and trade exchange events in domestic and foreign cities so far this year. It has also introduced 28 projects from China's top 500 companies, and its utilization of foreign investment in manufacturing industry has exceeded 1 billion yuan for the first time.