Innovation is becoming the strongest driving force for Shandong's development. Great achievements have been made in Shandong's high-end equipment industry, represented by the CRH train which has constantly established, added, extended and strengthened industrial chains. In 2021, there were 9,688 equipment manufacturing enterprises above designated size in Shandong, with an operating revenue of RMB 2.4 trillion, ranking fourth in China.

As shown by the data, Shandong high-end equipment enterprises' innovation capabilities have been significantly improved. So far, Shandong has created 8 manufacturing innovation centers at the provincial level and above for high-end equipment, 141 industrial design centers and 187 manufacturing single champion enterprises. With 3 achievements winning the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, Shandong has cultivated 22 national technology innovation demonstration enterprises, as well as developed and promoted the first set of major technical equipment and 1,443 key components.

The aggregation of the high-end equipment industry and the resilience of the industry chain continue to be enhanced. Shandong has cultivated 11 provincial-level "Goose Formation" industrial clusters, among which the industrial clusters of rail transportation equipment and intelligent home appliance have been selected as national advanced manufacturing clusters. In 2021, Shandong accelerated the development of 42 key industry chains, including 7 high-end equipment industries, namely automotive, construction machinery, agricultural equipment, CNC machine tools, hydrogen fuel cells, marine engineering equipment and rail transportation equipment.

For the next step, Shandong will focus on five strategic emerging equipment, five featured and advantageous equipment, coordinate the promotion of strengthening and adding industry chains, scientific and technological innovation, intelligent manufacturing, digital transformation, green and low-carbon development, strive to ensure that the proportion of high-end equipment manufacturing industry exceeds 50% by 2025, and built a national first-class, world-renowned high-end equipment manufacturing base.