Weichai, which is fully supporting Shandong's efforts to replace old development drivers with new ones, has made huge investments in recent years in building up a new-energy power industrial park. It joined forces this year with the United Kingdom's solid oxide fuel cell supplier Ceres Power, to strengthen its position in the new energy sector.

Adding to the momentum for change is GoerTek — a producer of microphones, speakers, Bluetooth devices and wearable technology — which is also speeding up its construction of smart factories and its involvement in business upgrade projects.

SME development

Elsewhere, there is Shandong CAS Wanlong Electroacoustic Technology Co, a joint venture established by Weifang Wanlong Electric and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2016. The company focuses on developing thermoacoustic refrigerators which can save energy, reduce noise and extend the product's lifetime. Its total industrial output value is expected to reach 2.2 billion yuan in 2025, according to the company.

Encouraging the development of high-growth SMEs is seen as a key task of the zone's government in the economic upgrade progress, according to officials. The zone has developed specific support policies for individual companies — including Weifang Wanlong Electric and Hocao Automation Technology — aimed at fostering their development.

Shandong CAS Wanlong Electroacoustic Technology Co this year joined forces with the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry in the Chinese Academy of Sciences to launch a research institute to speed up its work on thermoacoustics — a type of energy generation using heat to create sound electricity — and the commercialization of that technology.

Officials said the zone had successfully attracted a large number of innovation-driven SMEs over the last few years, which is strongly boosting regional economic growth. Leading companies have done extraordinarily well, such as Nuorui Technology and Weifang Xingang Electronics, which in the current year is seeing its sales revenue growth rate hitting 100 percent year-on-year.

Looking ahead, the zone expects to become home to two companies with annual sales revenue of more than 100 billion yuan and eight companies with annual sales revenue of more than 10 billion yuan by 2020. By then, the high-tech industry is expected to contribute more than 80 percent to the overall industrial output value of the zone.