East China's Shandong province is striving to become one of China's top innovation-oriented provinces by 2020 in order to contribute more to the development of an innovation-driven country.

According to a provincial conference on science and technology, more than 2,500 new high-tech companies began operating in Shandong in 2019, bringing the total number to over 11,000.

Local authorities said that in 2020, Shandong will continue to implement the strategy of innovation-driven development and promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

The province aims to achieve a number of core technological goals, and foster more than 2,000 new high-tech enterprises.

In addition, thirty-two science and technology projects from Shandong won China's top-level award during the recently-concluded annual ceremony of the National Science and Technology Award Conference.

In 2019, the Shandong Provincial Government established a special group to lead the promotion of science and technology and implemented several measures to accelerate its development into an innovation-oriented powerhouse. A special fund of 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) was also set up to promote related work.

Last year the province launched several important scientific research platforms, including the Shandong Institute of Industrial Technology, the Shandong Institute of Advanced Technology, and the Shandong Institute of Energy Research to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in the high-tech and new energy sectors and promote the high-quality development of the province.

The province also plans to build at least one national laboratory, 10 provincial laboratories, 30 key state laboratories, and 300 key provincial laboratories by 2022.