Industry-university-research cooperation projects are signed at the China (Jining) Advanced Carbon Materials Industry Development Summit Forum in Jining's Jiaxiang county on Aug 7. [Photo/Dazhong Daily]

The China (Jining) Advanced Carbon Materials Industry Development Summit Forum was held in Jining's Jiaxiang county in East China's Shandong province on Aug 7.

More than 100 representatives from the domestic carbon materials industrial chain, including top-notch experts Liu Zhongfan and Xu Chunming, attended the forum to discuss in-depth cooperation initiatives between governments, industries, universities and research institutes and how to boost high-quality development within the industry.

Jiaxiang county is currently home to more than 20 production and sales enterprises and covers carbon-based materials, high-end carbon application materials, new-energy graphite products, asphalt new materials and lithium cell materials. In 2021, the sector's output value exceeded 4 billion yuan ($592.4 million).

The county has established partnerships with more than 20 universities and research institutes including Tsinghua University and China University of Petroleum to form a close-loop industrial chain consisting of research and development, production, and application.

Shandong Yida New Material Co based in Jiaxiang is one of the major domestic suppliers of petroleum-based needle coke. In 2021, the company produced 200,000 tons of petroleum-based needle coke, ranking first in China, and exported 13,000 tons of petroleum-based needle coke, which accounted for over 50 percent of the country's total exports of the product.