Yantai, in East China's Shandong province, relies heavily on the manufacturing sector to drive economic growth, and the coastal city is now stepping up efforts to expedite its intelligent transformation, with the goal of turning it into a manufacturing powerhouse in the province.

Yantai Moon Heavy Casting & Machinery Co. has established a smart platform called "MICC," which is of great importance in speeding up digital transformation and upgrading industries, thanks to advanced digital technologies such as internet of things, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence.

Yantai government released an action plan to pick up its pace in technological innovation and digital transformation in the industrial segment this year. More efforts will be made to carry out industrial 5G network pilot projects by forming 20 typical industrial application scenarios. A total of 100 demonstration enterprises for intelligent transformation, and more than six smart factories and digital workshops at or above the provincial level will be built. This year, the city wants to increase the proportion of GDP added value from core digital economy industries to 7.3 percent or higher.

Efforts will also be made to increase investment in research and development, and make breakthroughs in key technologies through independent innovation. This year, Yantai will further implement the innovation-driven development strategy, with a number of innovation platforms to be built including the Blue Wisdom Valley, to better serve the city's leading businesses.

Yantai, in East China's Shandong province, beefs up efforts to accelerate its pace in intelligent transformation. [Photo/Jiaodong News]