The Ministry of Science and Technology has recently released the Notice on Supporting a New Group of Cities in Innovative City Construction. 25 cities are involved, including Zibo, Weihai, Rizhao, Linyi and Dezhou of Shandong Province.

According to the Notice, relevant cities should focus on innovation-driven development, accelerate the fulfillment of the key tasks set in construction plans, continue to deepen the institutional reform, optimize the innovation & entrepreneurship ecology, build a talent highland, expand opening-up and cooperation, improve the capacity for independent innovation, provide high-quality science and technology, promote the transformation of sci-tech achievements, foster and develop new industries, new business forms and new models, and provide support for developing a modernized economy, improving the people's living quality, creating a new development pattern and realizing high-quality development. Relevant local sci-tech administration departments should continue to strengthen guidance and support to innovative city construction. All the cities should take innovative city construction as the primary task of innovation-driven development, further enhance top-level design and planning, strengthen organizational leadership, improve working mechanisms, and speed up efforts to improve their capacity for sci-tech innovation and level of high-quality development.