The 150-mu (100,000-square-meter) Harbin Engineering University (Qingdao) Shipping Science Park in the city of Qingdao's West Coast New Area, in Shandong province, started construction recently, with a total investment of 640 million yuan ($104 million), which will help boost the city's innovation ability in the shipping industry and ocean engineering equipment, Qingdao Municipal Science and Technology Commission has announced.

With support from Harbin Engineering University in the shipping industry and marine exploitation, the science park will focus on shipping design, underwater vehicles, deep-sea engineering and new marine material development. In three to five years, it is expected to become an innovative industry-academy-research site, which combines an incubation base for the shipping industry and ocean engineering equipment, innovative technology R&D center, and an innovative talents training base.