Zaozhuang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone

Zaozhuang Hi-tech Zone [Photo/zzctp.gov.cn]

Zaozhuang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, established in December 1988, was upgraded to a national-level hi-tech zone by the State Council in February 2015.

Covering an area of 120 square kilometers and with a population of 150,000, the zone is a gathering place for the development of hi-tech industries in the southern part of Shandong province and a pilot area for the cluster management of intellectual property of national strategic emerging industries.

The zone enjoys very convenient transport. The Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway, the Beijing-Shanghai and Zaozhuang-Linyi railways, the Beijing-Fuzhou Expressway, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal go through the zone. Xuzhou Guanyin International Airport, Linyi Shubuling International Airport, Jining Qufu Airport, and Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport are close by.

In recent years, the zone has developed characteristic industrial clusters in new generation of information technology, biological medicine, new energy, new materials, modern services, as well as its traditional competitive industries. It is expected that six industrial clusters with an annual operation revenue exceeding 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) will be built in the zone in the following three to five years, and five listed companies will be developed.

In July 2018, the zone's GDP reached 5.16 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.2 percent while the total retail sales of consumer goods was 2.64 billion yuan, increasing by 7.5 percent year-on-year. The monthly average growth rate of the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size from January to July 2018 was 2.4 percent.