JINAN High-tech Industrial Development Zone, one of China’s first national-level high-tech zones approved in 1991, is part of a network that now spans more than 170 cities nationwide. Once a regional pilot, it has grown into a national pacesetter for industrial upgrading, strengthening its core pillars in new-generation IT, smart equipment and biomedicine, while laying the groundwork for future industries like AI, the low-altitude economy and synthetic biology. Across China, these zones have become engines of innovation, contributing over 30% of the country’s high-tech output. Jinan’s story is a window into that broader transformation.(SD News)