Jiaozhou Economic and Technological Development Zone was built with the approval of the People’s Government of Shandong Province in December 1992 and was upgraded to a state-level economic and technological development zone with the approval of the State Council on December 11, 2012.

With a most open seat at the hinterland of Jiaozhou Bay, the Area is conveniently located within the 15-minute economic circle with accessible land, marine and air transportation. As to land transportation, by virtue of a current transportation network covering one bridge (Jiaozhou Bay Bridge), two stations (Crintermodal’s Qingdao Railway Container Hub Station and Qingdao–Jinan Railway Jiaozhou Station), three expressways (Shenyang–Haikou Expressway, Qingdao–Lanzhou Expressway and Qingdao–Yinchuan Expressway) and four railways (Jiaoji Railway, Jiaoxin Railway, Jiaohuang Railway and Qingdao–Jinan Railway Jiaozhou Station), the Qingdao Metro Line 12 and Qingdao New Airport Expressway, an integrated transportation system has taken shape. Within easy reach of all members,  it has achieved “zero transfer” across the Shandong Peninsula Urban Cluster. As regards airport transportation, it is merely about 20 km away from Qingdao Liuting International Airport and 15 km away from the newly-built Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport. As for marine transportation, being only 15 km away from Qianwan New Port, is has easy access to over 450 ports of over 130 countries and regions all over the world.

Jiaozhou Economic and Technological Development Zone has exerted itself in efficient exercise of the administrative approval power of 80 items delegated by Qingdao Municipal People’s Government, centralized the approval power to two departments (Economic Development Bureau and Construction Bureau) of the Area which were originally involved in 19 departments under direct municipal control, and introduced the single-window mode, by which it further streamlined approval procedures and cut system costs.

Upon being upgraded to a state-level development zone, it has positioned itself as a high-end and smart new area featuring city and industry integration. So far, it has introduced 150 key projects with a total investment of RMB 175 billion, given shape to a characteristic industrial system dominated by seven new platform economies including smart manufacturing, smart cold chain, smart appliances, biomedicine, supply chain logistics, Internet e-commerce and sci-tech R&D and fostered three hundred-billion-level industrial chains including high-end equipment manufacturing, Internet+ modern service, aerospace and transportation equipment manufacturing.

As to education, the Area has attracted a number of universities and schools such as Jiaozhou Campus of Qingdao University, Qingdao Normal University for Preschool Teachers, Qingdao Concord College of Sino-Canada and the High School Affiliated to Xi’an Jiaotong University, and set up the kindergarten, primary school and junior middle school attached to Qingdao University, thus forming a complete education system ranging from kindergarten education to postgraduate education. As for medical service, the Area has put the Northern Regional Medical Service Center into operation and advanced synchronous construction of the Affiliated Hospital and the Jiaozhou Campus of Qingdao University. With regards to commerce, the Area has commenced  work on Seazen Wuyue Center Complex, Qingdao Taibangda Hotel, Hengtai Hotel and so on. As for leisure, the Area has constructed Ruyi Lake with beautiful landscape and implemented the project for Huahongwan International Tourism Resort featuring all-year-around panoramic tour.

In the course of construction, Jiaozhou Economic and Technological Development Zone has adhered to the principle of “laying equal stress on talent introduction and investment promotion”, established an innovation system covering the “six institutes, two bases and multiple centers” and improved its development as a state-level development zone. Specifically, “six institutes” include Logistics Research Institute of Tsinghua University, Marine Defense and Equipment Research Institute of Tsinghua Tongfang, Artificial Intelligence Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao R&D Institute of Xi’an Jiaotong University, China Academy of Machinery Science & Technology Qingdao Branch, and Qingdao Research Institute and Graduate School of Shandong University of Technology. The “Two bases” are Tsinghua University-Beika Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Base and High-end Manufacturing Innovation & Entrepreneurship Base of China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation. At present, the two bases have attracted more than 40 maker teams such as Qingdao Qihang Projectile Technology Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Keno Bio & Tech Co., Ltd. The “multiple centers” here aims to bring into full play the dominant role of enterprises in driving innovation and encourage industry-leading enterprises such as JD, Creative Technology, Neusoft and CIMC to establish industrial R&D centers through intensifying support. For example, Shaohaihui and China National Institute of Standardization have jointly founded the Standardization Research Institute for China Intelligent Housing; TGOOD has declared it will establish three national laboratories of medium voltage, high voltage and high-capacity, and China Inspection Jiaozhou Comprehensive Test Center has put three state-level laboratories into operation.