Recently, the Office of Shandong Provincial Joint Conference on the Development of Digital Economy released Shandong's first batch of "industrial brains" under the system whereby the province announces the "industrial brains" it needs and whoever has what it takes to make the breakthrough takes the lead, regardless of their background. Shandong will focus on its advantageous industrial clusters and select and cultivate the first batch of "industrial brains" with the circulation and application of data elements as the core. By doing so, Shandong strives to build itself into a testing ground for the country's industrial transformation and upgrading to realize the goal of being driven by data and empowered by digital technology.

Specifically, Shandong will select about 15 "industrial brains" for demonstration and piloting this year and strive to cultivate about 50 "industrial brains" in the province in three years or so. By promoting the "industrial brain" development in key industries, Shandong aims to form a "brain" for its industrial economy.

According to the 14th Five-Year Plan for Building Shandong Province into a Digital Powerhouse, Shandong will make an all-around improvement in its digital economy this year which is the most critical year of the five-year plan. Shandong has worked to promote the "industrial chain" development at the level of chain clusters and put the focus on high-end equipment, high-end chemicals, new materials, new energy, new medicine, new-generation information technology and other key industries at the enterprise level. In addition to this, Shandong will also build a number of data-driven "Chenxing factories" that are technology-led, integrated, coordinated, green and low-carbon. Thus, "industrial brains" and "Chenxing factories" can be synchronized with and support each other in their development. At present, the reference indicators for the construction of "Chenxing factories" have been released and cities in the province have started declaration, review, construction, and other relevant work.