East China's Shandong province has been ramping up efforts to promote the high-quality development of its manufacturing industry so as to become a manufacturing powerhouse, said local authorities at a recent news conference.

In the first 10 months of this year, the added value of industries above designated size in Shandong increased by 10.5 percent year-on-year, with a two-year average growth of 7 percent, 0.7 percentage points higher than the national average.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), Shandong took the manufacturing industry as the driving force behind the transformation of old and new economic drivers, and further consolidated its position as a strong manufacturing province. In 2020, its total industrial added value ranked third in China.

Efforts have been stepped up to strengthen industry collaboration and technological cooperation between upstream and downstream enterprises, in a bid to establish strategic industrial chains with more resilience, innovation and higher added value.

The province has also launched measures to promote entrepreneurship and craftsmanship to cultivate a number of outstanding small- and medium-sized enterprises.

It has cultivated 3,424 provincial-level leading small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in niche sectors, 1,140 gazelle enterprises, 20 unicorn enterprises and 557 single champion enterprises in manufacturing.

The province has launched policy support for hard-hit smaller businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and reduced enterprises' production and operating costs through reform.