Committed to building its maritime strength, Qingdao, whose most distinctive features and advantages stem from oceans, is working step by step to turn the vision, namely making Qingdao a vibrant ocean city and a livable and lovable city, into reality.

Over the years, Qingdao has ramped up efforts in terms of marine science and technology, seaport building and marine industry, and led its Chinese coastal peers in regard to the size of maritime economy. Qingdao’s gross ocean product (GOP) hit RMB501.44bln in 2022, with its share in the city’s GDP rising to 33.6%; reached RMB247.94bln in the first half of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%.

Outstanding elements of marine innovation are faster gathering in Qingdao. The Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, composed of 13 scientific research institutions, has kicked off its high-quality operation in Qingdao. China’s first national deep-sea base project, the fifth deep-sea technology base in the world, has passed the acceptance inspection in Qingdao. The Qingdao Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, China’s sole national maritime laboratory, has been put into service. The “Ocean Decade” platform for international cooperation has located itself in Qingdao. Furthermore, Qingdao has put in place the world’s largest deep sea scientific expedition fleet and make it publicly available, and established the world’s largest “two oceans and one sea” (Western Pacific-the South China Sea-Indian Ocean) observation network, which enables real-time transmission of data. Boasting 30 percent of China's academicians specializing in ocean-related disciplines, 40 percent of the country's high-end platforms for marine research and development and 50 percent of internationally advanced marine technologies, Qingdao really lives to its reputation as a source of marine science and technology innovation.

To date, 20 ocean-related sectors have had business presence in Qingdao, six of which see an output value of more than RMB100bln and eight realize an output value of more than RMB10bln. According to rough statistics, Qingdao is now home to more than 2,800 ocean-related enterprises above designated scale.

The construction of world-class seaports is underway in Qingdao. Shandong Port Group’s Qingdao Port ranks fourth globally in regard to cargo throughput which rose from 540 Mt in 2018 to 658Mt in 2022, and occupies the fifth spot in the world in regard to container throughput which jumped from 19.32 million TEUs in 2018 to 25.67 million TEUs in 2022.  (Li Xunxiang)

The laser radar developed by Qingdao Institute of Oceanographic Instrumentation is installed in the Antarctic Pole.