Linyi National High-tech Industrial Development Zone

Linyi National High-tech Zone [Photo/lyctp.gov.cn]

Founded in October 1992, Linyi National Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone in Shandong province was upgraded to a State-level hi-tech zone in June 2011. With a planning area of 190 square kilometers and a permanent resident population of 260,000, it is one of the 13 national-level hi-tech zones in the province and China's first one based in an old revolutionary area.

Located in the southwest part of Linyi city, it has convenient transport, with the Yanzhou-Shijiusuo Railway, the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway and the National Highway 206 passing through. It is only 120 km from Rizhao, Lanshan and Lianyungang ports, 150 km from Qingdao Port, 15 km from Linyi Shubuling International Airport and 7 km from Linyi Railway Station.

The zone enjoys an excellent environment for entrepreneurship and innovation. It has several high-tech enterprise incubators covering an area of 100 sq km, 41 scientific research institutions, 106 city-level or above research and development platforms, and more than 7,900 professional researchers.

In recent years, the zone has been sticking to an innovation-driven development strategy to promote its industrial transformation and upgrading. It has built up a modern industrial system and cultivated five industrial clusters: new energy, electronic information, biological medicine, new materials, and advanced equipment manufacturing. It is also committed to developing three emerging industries: magneto-electricity and functional materials, intelligent manufacturing, and digital economy.

In 2015, the regional GDP reached 6.78 billion yuan ($982.68 million), a year-on-year increase of 12 percent. The added value of the service industry accounted for 33.4 percent of the zone's GDP, 0.7 percentage points higher than the previous year.

The output value of industrial enterprises above designated size in 2015 totaled 54.94 billion yuan, with a yearly growth rate of 20.71 percent while that of the hi-tech industries made up 35.3 percent of the zone's total. The actual use of foreign capital amounted to $21.05 million and the contractual foreign investment capital was $20 million.

The zone now has 5,030 registered enterprises, including 216 ones above designated size, 21 foreign-funded ones, 42 hi-tech ones and 10 listed ones.