Recently, the South Shandong Science and Technology Innovation League was established in Zaozhuang. The league was jointly established by Zaozhuang, Jining, Linyi, and Heze, under the coordination of Zaozhuang. Its establishment is expected to further accelerate the agglomeration of factors of scientific and technological innovation of cities in southern Shandong economic circle, promote the sharing of scientific and technological innovation resources, and boost the coordinated and integrated development of the region.

The cities of the league signed cooperation agreements with universities, institutes and key enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta on scientific and technological innovation, planned projects, and technical requirements.

The league will focus on promoting the coordinated and innovative development of industries, promoting the building of a regional innovation community, building a service platform for sharing scientific and technological achievements, promoting the gathering and sharing of scientific and technological innovation resources, and deepening regional open cooperation.

Up to now, the league has a total of 205 member units including enterprises and scientific research institutions, with its daily work undertaken by Shandong Industrial Technology Research Institute of Zhejiang University. It builds, through "platform resource integration + integrated service platform + specialized business activities", a new platform for the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements in a trinity of production, education and research.