Shandong proposed at a regular executive meeting on Dec 16 that it will strive to build the equipment manufacturing industry into an important bedrock for high-quality economic development. 

The province will speed up the transformation and upgrading of the equipment manufacturing industry, actively transform and upgrade traditional superior equipment and accelerate the development and expansion of emerging high-end equipment.  

Shandong is a major province for equipment manufacturing. By the end of 2017, the province had a total of 12,000 equipment manufacturing enterprises above designated size, achieving a main business income of 3.86 trillion yuan ($559.8 billion) and a profit of 236.4 billion yuan, which respectively accounted for 27.1 percent and 28.4 percent of the province's total industrial value. 

Considering the current industrial change trends and the need for the conversion of new and old kinetic energy, it is important and urgent for Shandong province to promote the transformation and upgrading of the equipment manufacturing industry.

The meeting pointed out that by 2022, the main business income of the industry is expected to exceed 5 trillion yuan, with a profit rate of 7 percent. The contribution rate of high-end equipment to industrial growth is expected to reach 50 percent.

The province will form a new pattern of high-end products leading industrial development and growth. 

The innovation capability should be significantly improved. The R&D investment will account for 2.5 percent and the backbone enterprises will account for 5 percent. 

It will build more than ten industry innovation platforms and cultivate a number of national and provincial enterprise technology centers.

The competitiveness should be significantly enhanced. The province plans to build two industrial clusters of over one trillion yuan, cultivate five enterprise groups of over one hundred billion yuan, 50 leading enterprises of over one hundred billion yuan and more than 100 “specialized” single champion enterprises. 

The industrial layout should be significantly optimized. It will form a high-end equipment industry belt along the Jinan-Qingdao high-speed railway and Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway with Jinan, Qingdao and Yantai as the core. It will also develop about ten characteristic industrial clusters. 

Shandong will promote the transformation and upgrading of the equipment manufacturing industry in accordance with the overall idea of strengthening innovation capacity, upgrading product structure, solidifying development foundation, optimizing industrial layout, transforming development models and implementing major projects. 

The province will make innovation the core driving force for the development of equipment manufacturing industry by creating a number of key industry innovation platforms, implementing high-level industry-university-research cooperation projects and cultivating a group of enterprises with strong independent innovation capabilities. 

It will develop ten emerging high-end equipment covering a new generation of information technology, marine engineering and high-tech ships, rail transit, intelligent manufacturing, aerospace, robotics, energy conservation and environmental protection, new energy equipment, high-end instruments and equipment and high-performance medical equipment, striving to be at the  forefront of the industry in the country. 

Shandong will focus on the development of mechanical basic components, basic materials, basic manufacturing processes and industrial technology foundations to enhance the basic support capabilities of the equipment manufacturing industry and consolidate the foundation for development.