A new innovation center, set up to boost China's science and technology collaboration with Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, was inaugurated in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province.

The China-SCO Sci-Tech Innovation Cooperation Center, established under the oversight of Shandong's Department of Science and Technology, aims to enhance academic and cultural exchanges in innovation.

It will focus on innovation in artificial intelligence, the digital economy, healthcare, modern agriculture and climate change, and promote bilateral and multilateral joint research. The center will establish an international technology-transfer platform to facilitate cross-border technology transfer.

An SCO think tank will also be set up to provide support for global science and technology cooperation.

At the inauguration ceremony, 10 key international cooperation projects with SCO countries were launched, covering areas such as biomedicine, advanced equipment manufacturing and modern efficient agriculture.