An artist's design drawing of the Qingdao Graphene Innovation Center. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Qingdao, the largest city in Shandong province, has received the green light to proceed with the development of Qingdao Smart Home Innovation Center and Qingdao Graphene Innovation Center, two innovation centers aiming to boost local industry.

The Qingdao Smart Home Innovation Center is based in Youzhu Smart Home Industrial Park and will cover an area of over 850 mu (140 acres). It aims to develop into an innovative center attracting a range of industries involved in science and technology R&D, high-end equipment production, investment banking, and financing.

By 2020, the center hopes to foster more than 500 enterprises and institutions, including two listed companies. Qingdao Graphene Innovation Center will look to promote seven key areas involved in grapheme technologies, the modification of graphite for innovative applications. These include an engagement in developing anticorrosive graphene paint, sea water desalination, and energy storage materials.

The center will play a key role in fostering the growth of small-and medium-sized companies and enhancing companies' innovation capabilities. The center will hopefully bring 500 new patents to Qingdao’s graphene industry and help enlarge the industry’s scale to reach 30 billion yuan($6.9 billion).

In the future, Qingdao will look to take full advantage of the innovation centers and turn them into sites of great scientific and technological productivity.