A worker works on an automatic production line at a textile plant in Zaozhuang, Shandong province. [Photo by Wang Qian/chinadaily.com.cn]

An inorganic functional materials and intelligent manufacturing innovation and entrepreneurship community recently started operating in Zaozhuang, Shandong province. It is among the first five provincial-level innovation and entrepreneurship communities in the province.

The community has gathered 26 leading companies and institutions, including the China Building Materials Academy, Wuhan University of Technology and Zhejiang Venture Capital, to build a hundred-million-level green materials industry within three to five years.

Local officials said that the community is meant to accelerate the city's transition from old to new growth drivers and promote its high-quality development.

Zaozhuang, which has a coal-based economy, has been promoting industrial transformation and upgrading and pursuing high-quality economic development.

The city is taking advantage of Shandong's "modern superior industrial clusters + artificial intelligence" plan and has promoted six of its strongest industries, including high-end equipment, high-end chemicals, big data, lithium electricity, optical fibers, and medical care.

The city's high-end chemical industry currently has four provincial-level parks, which form 11 industrial chains and generate 70 billion yuan ($9.96 billion) in main business income. More than 200 enterprises involved in the big data industry have begun operating in the city.

The city has also begun manufacturing optical fibers, filling a major industry gap in Shandong province.

A senior manager from a  technology company in Zaozhuang shows its air purifiers. [Photo by Wang Qian/chinadaily.com.cn]

Zaozhuang has also deepened cooperation with universities and research institutes. This year, the city has introduced six high-end innovation platforms, including four academic workstations.

According to statistics, 45,800 market entities were registered in Zaozhuang in the first eight months of this year, up 41.8 percent year-on-year. This includes 16,300 newly registered enterprises, up 74.9 percent.

The city's industrial exports increased 13.4 percent year on year, while industrial tax revenue increased 16 percent. The value added of the modern service industry increased by 11.8 percent, the fastest growth rate among cities in Shandong province.