The Yantai Economic and Technological Development Zone has seen rising investment in research and development in recent years.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, the total R&D investment in the zone accounted for 3.2 percent of its GDP, 0.8 percentage points higher than the national average and reaching the level of American and European countries.

The output value of high-tech companies above designated size amounted to 189.5 billion yuan ($29.14 billion), accounting for 81 percent of the total and 17.5 points higher than at the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) period.

The area also saw an increasing number of science and technology enterprises, with the number of high-tech enterprises reaching 278.

The Yantai Economic and Technological Development Zone has currently won 118 scientific and technological awards at or above the municipal level.

Wanhua Chemical Group, located in the area, has won the first place in the Provincial Science and Technology Progress Awards for the past three years. The average annual R&D expenditures of the company in the past five years have exceeded 1.4 billion yuan.

In addition, leading Chinese biotech innovator RemeGen, located in the area, has developed a series of new drugs with independent intellectual property rights for autoimmune diseases, malignant tumors, and other major human diseases.