For the ocean exam paper, the answers are always new.

On May 24 this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out during his inspection of Shandong that it is necessary to give full play to the unique advantages of rich marine resources, manage the ocean and strengthen the sea, build a world-class marine port group, and create a highland for modern marine economic development.

From the benefits of fish salt and the convenience of ships, to asking for food and medicines from the sea, Qingdao relies on its distinctive marine advantages and characteristics to continue to develop the sea and help the people. It continues to use scientific and technological innovation to stimulate the potential and vitality of the marine industry and accelerate cultivation and development. New productive forces in the marine field, build a modern marine industry system, and create a highland for the development of the modern marine economy.

Exploring the sea and becoming the "source" of marine scientific and technological innovation

2024年7月4日，在青岛琅琊台集团海洋微藻实验室，工作人员查看小球藻的生长状况。新华社记者 郭绪雷 摄

Putting a cylindrical "black box" into the sea and monitoring the total phosphorus and total nitrogen data of seawater through sensors can "prescribe symptomatic prescriptions" to control the growth of algae plants and control marine pollution.

This "black box" is a new achievement of the Institute of Marine Instruments and Instrumentation of the Shandong Province Academy of Sciences-the seawater total phosphorus and nitrogen in-situ analyzer. After years of scientific and technological research and development, this important instrument in the field of ocean monitoring has been localized.

"The research and development of marine monitoring equipment involves disciplines such as sound, light, electromagnetism, and biochemistry. It is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative research process in multiple technical fields. Our ability to achieve current results depends on Qingdao's solid local scientific and technological innovation resources." Sun Jichang, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Marine Instruments and Instrumentation, Shandong Province Academy of Sciences, said.

To promote marine science and technology to achieve a high level of self-reliance and self-reliance, original and leading scientific and technological research are the key.

位于青岛市崂山区的中国海洋大学崂山校区（无人机照片，2024年7月11日摄）。新华社记者 李紫恒 摄

"Qingdao has the Laoshan Laboratory, the only national laboratory in the ocean field in the country. There are also more than 50 sea-related scientific research institutions such as Ocean University of China and Institute of Oceanography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 6 national-level key laboratories, and 23 full-time sea-related academicians. The total number of marine talents in the city reaches 376,500, providing solid scientific and technological support for promoting the high-quality development of the marine economy." Zhang Huijun, chief engineer of Qingdao City Ocean Development Bureau, introduced.

崂山实验室外景（无人机照片，2024年7月11日摄）。新华社记者 李紫恒 摄

Firmly grasping the advantages of scientific and technological innovation and exploring the rich resources contained in the vast ocean, a series of scientific and technological achievements have sprung up in Qingdao:

--The independently innovatively developed anti-hepatitis B virus drug (LY102) has been approved for drug clinical trials, and the new antitumor drug seaweed betaglucan (BG136) has completed Phase I clinical trials and is expected to become a new marine innovative drug;

--Take the lead in developing and breeding new varieties of Penaeus vannamei such as "Renhai No. 1","Haixingnong No. 2" and "Haixingnong No. 3". The dependence of such sea shrimp provenances on imports has been greatly improved;

--A net cleaning robot has been developed to monitor and maintain the status of deep-sea breeding cages and nets, solving the problems of difficulty in maintenance, difficulty in removing obstacles, and high operation risks that have long plagued deep-sea breeding platforms.

2024年7月11日，青岛森科特智能仪器有限公司科研人员（右一）在介绍网衣清洗机器人水下工作原理。新华社记者 李紫恒 摄

Guided by scientific and technological innovation, Qingdao is promoting marine science and related industries to the high-end and into the deep sea. With the support of many high-quality scientific and technological innovation platforms and resources, the overall marine industrial structure of this coastal city is also transforming from resource-intensive and labor-intensive to technology-intensive and knowledge-intensive, from low-tech content and low added value to high-tech content and high added value transformation, rapidly forming new advantages in marine development.

Xinghai is the "main position" where blue engines roar

From the fishing village and fishing port more than a hundred years ago to today's modern city with a population of tens of millions, Qingdao, which has become strong in the sea, is constantly strengthening the coordination of innovative resources such as talents, technology, and capital. A large number of scientific and technological achievements have been transformed into tangible benefits. The blue engine of the marine industry continues to roar.

The production line of the Time-honored Technology Transparent Factory located in Chengyang District, Qingdao operates in an orderly manner. Through the exploration and updating and improvement of purification methods of marine phospholipids at the molecular level, the company's production process and technical level of krill oil products have been significantly improved, opening up a new path for high-value utilization of Antarctic krill.

Li Yifei, chief technology officer of Fengshi (Qingdao) Ocean Technology Co., Ltd., said that the company has also cooperated with the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Aquatic Sciences and other units to form innovative consortiums, such as the national Antarctic krill Advanced Research and Development Quality and Testing Center, and the Chronic Diseases Medical Nutrition Research Center, etc., through joint research and development, promote the Antarctic krill industry to the high end of the value chain.

青岛海洋生物医药研究院研究人员在实验室进行研发测试（2024年6月7日摄）。新华社记者 李紫恒 摄

From medical dressings and biological fertilizers developed based on seaweed, to independently developed ballast water treatment systems, to "blue drug warehouses" with marine characteristics, more and more companies are deeply transforming scientific research results and injecting momentum into the marine industry.

Since 2021, Qingdao has established and supported a total of 84 key technology research projects, with nearly 2.5 billion yuan in scientific research funding at all levels to promote the on-site trading, transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements.

Li Deqiang, director of the Marine Science and Technology Department of Qingdao City Science and Technology Bureau, said that in 2023, the city's sea-related technology contract turnover will reach 6.935 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70%, and the number of sea-related high-tech enterprises will increase to 638, a year-on-year increase of 27.1%.

大型养殖工船“国信1号”在海上作业（资料照片）。新华社发（青岛国信集团供图）

Major projects have also become one of Qingdao's powerful engines to build a modern marine economy. The 100,000-ton large-scale smart fishery breeding ship "Guoxin No. 1" delivered and put into operation in May 2022 has so far harvested more than 2600 tons of large yellow croakers. The 150,000-ton large-scale breeding ship "Guoxin No. 2" is also stepping up construction; The cylindrical floating production, storage and unloading device "Anemone No. 1" was recently completed and delivered in Qingdao, and breakthroughs have been made in key technologies for independent design and construction of my country's deepwater oil and gas equipment.

"We coordinate the construction of marine projects, anchor key industrial chains such as marine fisheries, marine equipment, marine drugs and biological products, strengthen investment promotion in the industrial chain, and promote the early implementation and early implementation of key marine industry projects." Meng Qingsheng, director of the Qingdao City Marine Development Bureau, said.

位于青岛市李沧区的青岛水务百发海水淡化厂（无人机照片，2024年7月10日摄）。新华社记者 李紫恒 摄

In recent years, Qingdao has also introduced a number of policies and measures to support the high-quality development of the marine economy and implement enterprise doubling plans to help the marine industry and marine enterprises become bigger and stronger; it has concentrated on promoting 140 key marine projects with a total investment of 210 billion yuan and continued to introduce and implement a number of strong chain, complementary chain, and extended chain projects to promote the quality improvement and upgrading of the marine industry.

这是青岛水务百发海水淡化厂生产车间内景（2023年3月20日摄）。新华社记者 李紫恒 摄

In 2023, Qingdao's total marine production will increase by 6.5% year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2024, Qingdao's GDP increased by 8.2% year-on-year, achieving a high-quality start in the first quarter.

Strengthen the sea and become an "open place" for marine economic development

Qingdao Port, Shandong Port, has a busy scene at the fully automated container terminal. Fully automated rail cranes and automatically guided vehicles cooperate with each other to quickly transport containers to designated loading and unloading locations.

As an international shipping hub in Northeast Asia, Qingdao Port currently has more than 220 container routes in total, ranking first in the number and density of routes in northern my country.

轮船在山东港口青岛港全自动化集装箱码头停泊作业（无人机照片，2024年7月3日摄）。新华社记者 郭绪雷 摄

"Since the beginning of this year, Qingdao Port has opened 7 additional international container routes including the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Mexico." Zhang Yong, deputy general manager of Qingdao Port Qianwan Container Terminal Company, said that the container throughput of Qingdao Port increased by 11.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, with the cargo volume of North American and South American routes both achieving double-digit growth year-on-year.

Ports are basic and hub facilities and an important support for economic development. Located at an important node of the "Belt and Road" and an important outlet of the Yellow River Basin, Qingdao relies on its port advantages to take the lead in serving and integrating into the new development pattern, and continues to strengthen the "open place" for marine economic development.

In recent years, Qingdao has insisted on land and sea linkage with provinces and regions along the Yellow River. In order to further facilitate the import and export business of enterprises in provinces in the Yellow River Basin, as of the end of June this year, Shandong Port Group has built 50 inland ports and opened 100 freight lines in important domestic logistics hub cities. Many products along the Yellow River provinces have passed through Sea-rail combined transportation is exported from Qingdao Port to all parts of the world.

New energy vehicles produced in Xi'an are transported to Qingdao Port by domestic trade railway and then by sea to Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The whole journey takes only 30 to 35 days.

"With its location advantages and many years of layout, Qingdao has occupied a favorable position in international port city competition and provided strong support for high-level opening up to the outside world." said Zhao Kai, a professor at the School of Economics at Qingdao University.

With the help of international multilateral cooperation mechanisms and platforms, Qingdao continues to polish its "business card" of high-level opening up. As a national-level platform for my country to carry out local economic and trade cooperation with Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries, the China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Zone (SCO Demonstration Zone) located in Qingdao relies on the advantages of the "sea, land and rail" transportation hub to deeply integrate into the "Belt and Road", creating a "sea outlet" for SCO countries to cooperate with the Asia-Pacific region.

So far, the SCO Demonstration Zone has opened 32 China-Europe freight lines, with a total of more than 3200 trains operating, reaching 23 SCO countries and 54 cities and countries co-building the "Belt and Road".

"The Shanghai Cooperation Demonstration Zone has become a major international logistics channel connecting Japan, South Korea and the Pacific in the east, Central Asia and Europe in the west, Nantong, ASEAN and South Asia, and Mongolia and Russia in the north." Zang Yuanqi, director of the Industrial Development Department of the Shanghai Cooperation Demonstration Zone Management Committee, said.

In the process of building an open and export-oriented economy, Qingdao has also faced many superimposed opportunities, and blue momentum continues to surge: Qingdao Free Trade Zone, as one of the country's first batch of import trade promotion innovation demonstration zones, implements the free trade pilot zone improvement strategy and builds a cross-border e-commerce import commodity supply chain industrial cluster in the "9+2" region of the Yellow River Basin; Since the "Ocean Decade" International Cooperation Center was unveiled in 2023, it has continued to play a leading role in implementing marine ecological management and developing the marine circular economy, winning praise from many countries...

Catching up the sea and riding the waves, Qingdao is accelerating its pace towards the deep blue and distant sea, striving to write the article on managing the ocean.

Written reporters: Wu Shuguang, Zhang Wuyue, Wang Kai, Gao Tian, Li Zhihao, Wang Huan

Video reporters: Wang Huan, Wu Feizuo

Poster design: Jiang Zihan

Editors: Li Min, Hao Yalin, Li Minggang, Feng Xiaoqing, Wang Wenyuan

Coordinator: Cao Jiangtao