The provincial treasury further intensified support to original innovations and frontier science exploration in 2021 by allocating funds of 583 million yuan to support 3,287 projects under the provincial natural science fund program, up 15.5% year on year.

3,117 (94.8%) of these projects are young talent and free exploration projects, showing Shandong prioritizes young sci-tech personnel in terms of basic research funding. Doctors under the age of 35 from the top 200 of the Academic Ranking of World Universities, as well as the top 100 universities and research institutes by Nature Index were directly supported by the young scientists fund, to attract more outstanding young sci-tech talents to Shandong for innovation and development.

In terms of deepening the project management reform, Shandong vigorously practiced new project organization modes such as "open competition", expanded the pilot scope of lump sum project funding to the projects supported by the distinguished young scholars fund and the excellent young scientists fund, and gave researchers greater liberty to use funds, thereby fully arousing their creative vitality and innovative power.

Shandong also developed a new funding mechanism by endorsing and setting up 6 united funds for innovative development. The provincial treasury allocated 19 million yuan and leveraged a total social capital of 44.15 million yuan to fund 130 projects in fields such as smart computing and quantum science, thereby promoting the integration of basic research with industrial demand.