Qingdao Port, Shandong province [Photo/IC]

The unveiling ceremony of the Qingdao Biomedical and Medical Device Industrial Park and the Qingdao Precision Instrument Industrial Park was held in the Qingdao National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone on April 6.

The city is planning to build the first batch of 15 parks in 10 pillar emerging industries to vitalize the real economy and accelerate the high-quality development of advanced manufacturing. They include the Qingdao Virtual Reality Industrial Park, the Qingdao Integrated Circuit Industrial Park and the Qingdao Artificial Intelligence Industrial Park.

Covering a total area of 4,630 mu, or 308.8 hectares, the newly launched biomedicine and medical device park focuses on biomedicine, medical devices and rehabilitation industrial parks and strives to develop innovative biological drugs and new drugs for rare diseases and promote in-vitro diagnostic tests, advanced therapeutic equipment and rehabilitation facilities. The park plans to introduce more than 10 projects, and each cost around 100 million yuan ($14.53 million) to construct.

The precision instrument park covers a total area of 2,903.5 mu and specializes in industrial control systems and devices, experimental analysis instruments, sensors and core components. It plans to introduce more than six projects each worth more than 100 million yuan.

During the ceremony, 12 key projects were signed and Sinopharm Science and Technology City officially opened. The projects include the research platform of the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Qingdao Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance and Innovation Base of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Langsen Intelligent Technology's manufacturing project and Muniu's millimeter-wave radar.

Standard Group's public service platform for the testing and research and development of the medical and pharmaceutical industry is another highlight, which received a total investment of 1 billion yuan. The project is expected to complement the medical and pharmaceutical industrial chain in the zone and offer one-stop services for enterprises.

The Langsen manufacturing project has a planned total investment of 200 million yuan and plans to provide customers with overall solutions from single-function equipment and build computer numerical control systems based on smart technologies such as big data analysis and the internet of things.

Sinopharm Science and Technology City, which is managed by the financial leasing subsidiary of China National Pharmaceutical Group, has a total investment of 6 billion yuan. The 152-mu first phase is expected to inject strong impetus into the development of Qingdao's biomedicine and medical device industries.

Agglomeration effect

Qingdao regards the biomedicine and medical device industry as one of its 24 pillar industrial chains and aims to trigger the innovative vitality of enterprises in an all-round way. 

To date, the Qingdao high-tech zone has introduced more than 150 R&D-based projects including AstraZeneca and the Sinopharm East China Base. The zone is home to 10 innovation platforms above the provincial level for enterprises above designated size and one-third of the market entities in Qingdao's medical and pharmaceutical industry.

In 2022, the revenue generated by the biomedicine and medical device industry in the zone exceeded 8 billion yuan, up 28 percent year-on-year.

Qingdao, Shandong province [Photo/VCG]

AstraZeneca signed an investment cooperation agreement with the zone recently to launch a new $450 million manufacturing and supply base for inhalable aerosols. The base is also planning to build the assembly, packaging and storage plants for two Pressurized Metered Dose Inhalers, or PMDI, as well as labs, offices and other facilities.

Wego International Medical Devices Industrial Park received a total investment of 5 billion yuan and settled in the zone to promote production industrial chains, research and funds.

The zone has also gathered a batch of upstream and downstream enterprises in the precision instruments industry including Hexagon, the world's largest manufacturer of three-coordinate measuring instruments, Qingdao Topscomm Communication Inc and Qingdao AIP Intelligent Instrument Co Ltd.

In 2022, the revenue of the precision instruments industry in the zone exceeded 7 billion yuan, up 30 percent year-on-year.