Original Title: Notice from the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Shandong Province, the Development and Reform Commission of Shandong Province, and the Department of Science and Technology of Shandong Province on the Issuance of the "Implementation Plan for the Innovative Development of Pilot-Scale Testing in Shandong Province's Manufacturing Sector"
Pilot-scale testing refers to transitional experiments that transform new products in the prototype stage into the production process, and it is a critical link in the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements.To thoroughly implement the “Implementation Opinions on the Innovative Development of Pilot Testing in Manufacturing” (MIIT-Joint Science and Technology [2024] No. 11) issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission, as well as the “Action Plan for Strengthening Support Capabilities for Pilot Testing in Manufacturing” (NDRC Industry [2024] No. 2) issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, this Implementation Plan is formulated to enhance the support and assurance capabilities of pilot testing for advanced manufacturing and to promote the construction of a strong province in advanced manufacturing.
I. Guiding Principles
Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and thoroughly carry out General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions and requirements regarding Shandong’s work. We will anchor our efforts on “taking the lead and opening up new prospects,” with the construction of a pilot zone for green, low-carbon, and high-quality development as the overarching priority. Focusing on the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, the consolidation and expansion of advantageous industries,the cultivation and expansion of emerging industries, and the forward-looking layout of future industries. We will further improve the support for pilot production capabilities, promote the innovative development of the pilot production industry, and build an ecosystem for pilot production development, thereby providing strong support for our province’s advancement of a modern industrial system and the accelerated development and formation of new-quality productive forces.
II. Basic Principles
Demand-Driven, Focus on Priorities. Precisely align with key industries, address the needs of critical core technologies, and strengthen pilot production supply capabilities to meet the requirements of pilot research for the transformation of technological achievements. Concentrate efforts on consolidating and enhancing strengths, promote the efficient allocation of innovation resources to advantageous fields, and comprehensively improve pilot production service capabilities.
Coordinated Deployment and Categorized Guidance. Addressing the distinct patterns and needs of various industries during pilot-scale maturation, we will respect industrial differences, adhere to coordinated planning, and strengthen categorized guidance to create pilot-scale platforms with unique characteristics. Following the basic principle of “launching one as soon as it is ready,” we will steadily advance the construction of pilot-scale platforms in a step-by-step and tiered manner.
Market-oriented, open, and shared. Fully leverage the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, and aggregate and allocate various resources in accordance with market mechanisms. Establish a scientific evaluation indicator system and a dynamic monitoring system to promote the open sharing of platform resources, improve cooperation mechanisms, and accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
III. Development Goals
Focusing on key industrial sectors, we will leverage high-quality corporate innovation resources—such as manufacturing innovation centers, industrial design centers, “One Enterprise, One Technology” R&D centers, and engineering research centers—to plan and construct a series of pilot production platforms that are fully functional, open and shared, and distinctively specialized.
By 2027, we aim to establish approximately five provincial-level pilot production platforms in key industrial sectors that serve as exemplary models with strong radiating and driving effects. We will strive to create national-level pilot production platforms in sectors where we hold a competitive advantage. We will gradually achieve full coverage of pilot production services, ensuring that technological achievements are effectively adopted and pilot production needs are adequately met. This will foster a pilot production service system characterized by flexible mechanisms, sound policies, a well-developed talent pool, and sustainable development, thereby promoting the integrated development of the innovation chain and the industrial chain.
IV. Key Tasks
(1) Accelerate the Construction of Pilot-Scale Testing Platforms. Focusing on key sectors such as next-generation information technology, biomedicine, high-end chemicals, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy and new materials, and future industries, and targeting key industrial clusters, we will build a number of major pilot-scale testing projects with strong industry-driving capabilities, in line with the province’s industrial foundation.Encourage leading enterprises and supply chain anchors to accelerate the development of pilot production platforms, increase investment in these platforms, drive product R&D and validation testing, and enhance industrial transformation capabilities, thereby creating conditions for advancing technological achievements from small-scale trials to industrial-scale production. Guide leading enterprises in industrial chains to integrate pilot production with R&D and production planning to establish comprehensive pilot production capabilities.
(2) Enhance pilot-scale maturation capabilities. Guide manufacturing enterprises to formulate plans for enhancing pilot-scale capabilities, strengthen the integration and application of next-generation information technologies, and carry out digital upgrades of experimental equipment and processes.and networked collaborative pilot testing; promote the application of machine vision, machine learning, and large-scale AI models in pilot testing; accelerate the development of high-precision measuring instruments and high-end testing equipment; and expedite the advancement of pilot testing platforms toward intelligence, digitization, networking, high-end capabilities, and environmental sustainability. Fully leverage cutting-edge technologies to accelerate R&D innovation and the application and promotion of pilot testing platforms; promote the deep integration of the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence with pilot testing platforms; and help platforms achieve a seamless transition from “innovation—validation—commercialization—application and promotion.”Adhering to safety and environmental protection standards, guide enterprises in building green and safe pilot production lines to ensure the inherent safety of their pilot production processes.
(3) Strengthen research and development of key technologies. Address key common issues related to pilot-scale platforms and pilot R&D test lines by launching technology challenges through mechanisms such as “posting challenges and recruiting leaders,” thereby advancing the development of the pilot-scale R&D platform system.Make full use of policies for equipment renewal and upgrading in the industrial sector to support the renewal, upgrading, and domestic substitution of pilot-scale equipment. Guide enterprises to increase R&D investment and encourage user units to collaborate on joint research to resolve pilot-scale bottlenecks. Focusing on resolving bottlenecks, bottleneck points, and disconnections, promote the standardized, serialized, modularized, and integrated development of hardware and software products.
(4) Deepen Collaborative Innovation.Focusing on key industrial sectors, implement major pilot-scale projects that demonstrate high innovation levels, strong industrial driving force, and breakthrough potential. Strengthen collaboration among upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain, as well as universities and research institutes, in areas such as supply-demand matching, collaborative support, innovation partnerships, resource sharing, and industrialization empowerment, to drive the innovative development of the pilot-scale industry. Support eligible localities and enterprises in establishing pilot-scale centers with broad reach, strong commercialization capabilities, and sound development mechanisms, based on their industrial foundations and comparative advantages.
(5) Incubate and Cultivate High-Quality Enterprises. Prioritize key sectors such as instruments and meters, metrology and standardization equipment, testing and inspection equipment, and design and simulation software to accelerate the cultivation of a group of leading enterprises with distinct core businesses, strong core competitiveness, and significant service and support capabilities. Support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in focusing on their core businesses and refining their operations, continuously enhancing their innovation capabilities and core competitiveness in pilot-scale hardware and software products. Promote integrated innovation among large, medium, and small enterprises to foster more specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative SMEs.
(6) Establish public service institutions. Build a group of specialized pilot-scale service institutions with distinct characteristics and prominent strengths. Pool professional resources to enhance testing capabilities for special application scenarios and extreme environments, and provide specialized services tailored to industry-specific needs and special scenarios. Establish a group of pilot-scale information service institutions to collect, organize, process, and disseminate information on pilot-scale platforms, provide industry-wide information on pilot-scale operations, and promptly disseminate supply-and-demand information on pilot-scale services to the public and enterprises in need.Cultivate a group of pilot-scale patent service agencies to handle patent applications and facilitate the transfer and commercialization of patent technologies on behalf of pilot-scale platforms. Regularly organize promotional activities to advance the commercialization and operation of patent-based technological achievements from pilot-scale platforms. Introduce a group of pilot-scale project evaluation agencies to conduct market-oriented, specialized evaluations of pilot-scale projects, thereby increasing the success rate of their industrialization.
(7) Provide open-access and shared services. Encourage and support eligible pilot testing platforms to provide enterprises with mature, comprehensive pilot testing equipment, facilities, and production processes, as well as services such as data simulation, process improvement, and sample prototyping. Encourage and support enterprises to conduct pilot testing activities through service procurement or collaborative development to create high-value-added series of new products and equipment, thereby fully leveraging the social service functions of pilot testing platforms.
(8) Select Outstanding Model Cases. Support enterprises in actively carrying out pilot and demonstration projects for pilot-scale platforms. Focusing on key sectors, identify a group of model cases featuring flexible institutional mechanisms and significant demonstration, leadership, and spillover effects. Summarize and promote successful experiences and practices in building the pilot-scale platform system. Annually select a batch of pilot-scale services, solutions, and application cases, strengthen publicity and promotion, and fully leverage the supporting role of pilot-scale platforms in the process of transforming scientific and technological achievements.
(9) Innovate operational management models. Adhering to the “government guidance, market-driven” operational model, explore flexible and efficient management and operational mechanisms for pilot testing platforms based on the characteristics of different industries. Establish reasonable fee standards for the leasing of facilities and equipment, improve internal management systems and revenue distribution mechanisms, and foster a virtuous cycle oriented toward the market, integrating supply and demand, and ensuring sustainable development.Establish a targeted approval mechanism for pilot testing operations to promptly resolve bottlenecks and difficulties in the approval process. Simultaneously, create a green channel for key projects, optimize approval procedures, and ensure that applications are accepted immediately upon submission, evaluated immediately upon acceptance, and that evaluation and review proceed concurrently, thereby providing precise support to facilitate the rapid implementation of pilot testing projects.
V. Support Measures
(1) Strengthen Organizational Leadership. Enhance analysis of the development trends in the pilot-scale industry and collaboratively advance the implementation of major pilot-scale projects. Establish a working mechanism that integrates provincial and municipal efforts and coordinates across departments to strengthen coordination, service provision, and oversight for major pilot-scale initiatives. Form an Expert Advisory Committee on Pilot-Scale Industry Development to provide intellectual support and safeguards for the sector’s growth.
(2) Strengthen Policy Guidance. Increase support for the high-quality development of the pilot-scale industry. Encourage pilot-scale platforms to collaborate with enterprises and universities/research institutes to carry out major scientific and technological research initiatives; prioritize the recommendation of eligible projects for national and provincial major project applications; and give priority support to enterprises with pilot-scale platforms when they apply for innovation platform designations. Encourage eligible regions to provide loan interest subsidies to pilot-scale platforms, and encourage financial institutions to establish green channels for their financing.Actively seek national funding support and increase the allocation of various provincial-level special funds to pilot-scale testing platform projects. Actively leverage the role of government investment funds to guide social capital in increasing investment in the pilot-scale testing industry.
(3) Cultivating Industrial Talent. Guided by the needs of the pilot-scale industry, we will expand pathways for university-enterprise collaborative talent development and accelerate the cultivation of a professional workforce engaged in pilot-scale overall scheme design, process design, quality control, and production operations. We will strengthen cooperation with domestic and international talent organizations, explore the establishment of an innovative talent recruitment mechanism tailored to the development of our province’s pilot-scale industry, and attract high-level leading talents and innovation teams.
(4) Strengthen Performance Evaluation. Conduct performance assessments of pilot-scale platforms, focusing on R&D, technology transfer, and shared service performance. Establish and improve an evaluation system for pilot-scale platforms, formulate scientific and standardized performance evaluation regulations, and conduct regular comprehensive assessments of operational efficiency. Emphasize the application of evaluation results by linking them to incentive and disciplinary measures, thereby creating an evaluation model where internal self-regulation and social oversight reinforce one another, and continuously enhance both the scale and quality of pilot-scale platform development.
(5) Foster a favorable environment. Timely summarize successful experiences in pilot plant development, promote the importance of pilot plants in scientific and technological innovation, and mobilize the initiative and enthusiasm of all sectors of society to create a favorable environment conducive to the development of pilot plants. Encourage capable pilot plants to actively host national and regional competitions, cutting-edge technology seminars, and other events to advance pilot plant development to new heights, elevate standards, and produce tangible results.
