Shandong province has been ramping up efforts to promote new infrastructure construction during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), and is injecting new impetus into sustaining economic growth.

Unlike traditional forms of infrastructure such as railways, roads and water conservation sites, the concept of "new infrastructure" refers to critical facilities based on information technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence, the industrial internet and the internet of things.

The province has focused on areas such as industrial security, agriculture, the service industry, people's livelihood and public services to promote the transformation and development of traditional sectors. Efforts have also been made to bolster the growth of emerging industries with innovative technologies.

At Rizhao Port in Shandong province, unmanned container trucks and manned container trucks both shuttle around the docks. The port has built the world's first 5G smart port, which implements 5G successfully. Since its smart system was launched, Rizhao Port's comprehensive efficiency has increased by 15 percent, labor costs has been cut by 86 percent, and the annual operation volume has increased by 450,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Shandong-based enterprises have established a number of digital innovation platforms for new energy vehicles, the Beidou navigation satellite system, e-commerce and blockchain systems, as well as collaborative innovation platforms for sectors like offshore engineering equipment, logistics and big data.