THE city’s blue economy has made significant progress since last year with the construction of a batch of national ocean science and technology laboratories, key projects, business and technology incubators and industrial parks. “According to the city’s blue economy strategy, the city will improve the standard of ocean technology, becoming a center for scientific research and professional training in the area. With the implementation of the strategy, the city has shown great power in driving the development of the blue economy on Shandong Peninsula,” said an official from the city’s commission of development and reform. The number of ocean technology research organizations and high-end professionals involved in Qingdao’s blue economy accounts for more than 30 percent in the country and they are working in more than 50 percent of the national key projects in the field. The city also built a batch of national-level creative platforms in deep sea base and ocean technology laboratories last year. As of the end of last year, construction of the first phase of Qingdao National Ocean Science and Technology Laboratory had been finished, while a platform for biological medicine had been in operation. The science investigation ship is also in operation, while a deep sea base will start construction soon. Other laboratories in energy and software development will also be built in the city and new campuses for Ocean University of China and Shandong University will also be signed. Industrial parks for ship manufacturing, biological medicine, seawater disinfection, ocean new energy and ocean processing are in construction or will be built soon. The growing number of high-end projects has also promoted the city’s industrial upgrading. Since last year, 19 projects with total investment of 70 billion yuan (US$11.1 billion) have been introduced to the Dongjiakou harbor area, while Haixi Bay ship manufacturing base has become a national model base. Sino-German ecological park has started construction, while more than 20 ocean equipment projects are in operation. Production volume of the city’s ship and ocean project industry reached 48 billion yuan last year, increasing by 50 percent than the previous year, while 77 tourism projects worth 128 billion yuan were under smooth construction. Seventeen projects with total investment of 2.9 billion yuan were introduced to the Laoshan biological medicine industrial park, while the Jiaozhou ocean biology and equipment manufacturing park became the world’s largest refrigerated container and refrigerated trailer base. “The strategy has helped speed the city’s development in blue economy. According to statistics, the combined sales revenue of the city’s 415 blue economy companies reached more than 250 billion yuan last year. Added value of the city’s ocean industry was 66 billion yuan, increasing by 20 percent over 2010,” said the official. (Wang Yuanyuan, Lin Gang) 2011 Top 10 Economic Events 1. “Blue valley” to promote ocean economy 2. “West Costal Economic Zone” starts planning 3. Jiaozhou Bay bridge and tunnel in operation 4. Sino-German ecological park starts construction 5. Qingdao assets operation company reformed 6. Qingdao firms expand overseas 7. Qingdao FAW builds commercial van base 8. Second phase of Qingdao bonded area passes examination 9. Qingdao Fante Dreamland opens 10. High-speed train produced at Sifang | 