The 14th "Sea Expo" will be held in Jinan

The 4th Shandong Talent Innovation and Development Conference and the 14th "Sea Expo" will be held in Jinan from May 13th to 14th. This grand event with the theme of "Talent Leading Innovation, Opening up, and Empowering Development" coincides with a key milestone in the beginning of the "15th Five Year Plan". It is not only an important window for Shandong to gather high-end talents from home and abroad, link innovation resources, but also a strategic conclusion for the province to anchor future development, plan talent work, and seize the high ground of innovation.

It is reported that at this conference, Shandong will release 204 core technology "unveiling and leading" requirements, with a total investment of 2.19 billion yuan and an unveiling amount of nearly 500 million yuan. Among them, over 80% of the research and development projects aim at the advanced level or above in China, and over 50 research and development projects explicitly target "import substitution" and "breaking foreign monopolies". This type of high-precision and cutting-edge technology research proposition relies on the tackling strength of technology leaders, which is also a vivid practice of the precise implementation of the "Peak Building Plan".

Tip: Shandong has a consistent thirst for talent. Opening the "transcript" of the talent conference, it can be found that since the launch of the "Talent Revitalization of Shandong" action by the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Government in 2020, the first three conferences have attracted more than 280 top talents from home and abroad, and more than 8600 talent projects have settled in Qilu. At present, as we enter the 15th Five Year Plan period, Shandong is firmly committed to the mission of "leading the way and shouldering the heavy burden", striving to become an important economic growth pole in the northern region. The thirst for talent is more urgent than ever before. Shandong's decision to once again build a platform and gather talents at this time is not only a continuation of its past accumulation, but also to inject the first talent momentum into the new five-year racing with greater openness.

2. Shandong launches the "Scenario Cultivation Open Application" action plan, focusing on 20 key areas for tackling challenges

Recently, Shandong issued the "Action Plan on Supporting Scene Cultivation, Open Application, and Promoting Breakthrough Development of New Quality Productivity" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"). The Plan focuses on creating an important national leading area for scene opening and a source of innovation for major scenes. Based on potential advantages and actual needs, it clarifies 20 areas for scene innovation breakthroughs.

In terms of high-quality development, we will use 10 iconic scenarios in 10 fields to drive the upgrading of industries. Among them, six fields revolve around emerging future industries such as artificial intelligence, aerospace, and low altitude economy. In terms of efficient governance, six innovative scenarios are used to enhance the quality and efficiency of service management, involving emergency management, smart water conservancy, ecological environmental protection, etc. In terms of high-quality living, we will increase the supply of high-quality livelihood through four typical scenarios in various fields. In areas such as medical and health care, elderly care and childcare, cultural tourism, and new consumption, we will focus on launching new scenarios such as emergency drug delivery, full scene intelligent monitoring, and digital entertainment.

Shandong will also promote government departments at all levels and state-owned enterprises to actively open up scenarios and implement "scenario point supply" for disruptive technologies; Allocate special funds to incentivize benchmark scenarios; Innovate 'scenario loans', guide' patient capital ', and explore' scenario investment '. At the same time, we will release more than 50 scenario opportunity lists and capability lists each year, cultivate more than 500 scenario projects by 2027, and promote the promotion and application of no less than 200 new technologies, products, and formats.

Tip: Currently, Shandong is deepening the transformation of old and new driving forces, accelerating the construction of a green, low-carbon, and high-quality development pilot zone, and urgently needs to promote the rapid industrialization of leading and breakthrough technologies through large-scale and highly adaptable application scenarios. The Shandong market has obvious advantages in terms of scale and volume. It has a massive number of application scenarios in various fields such as industrial transformation, consumption upgrading, urban governance, and social livelihood. Only the first batch of more than 210 major scenario projects planned and implemented can leverage more than 750 billion yuan of investment after they are all implemented, providing core support for scenario applications and considerable market space.

In the first four months of this year, the number of inbound and outbound personnel at Jinan Port increased by over 40%

The reporter learned from the Jinan Exit Entry Border Inspection Station that as of now, Jinan Port has inspected more than 375000 inbound and outbound personnel, an increase of 43.9% compared to the same period in 2025. Among them, the total number of foreign tourists entering and leaving the country exceeded 85000, with a year-on-year increase of 85.9%.

Breaking down the core password of passenger flow growth, ASEAN countries have become the strongest engine driving the increase in inbound and outbound passenger flow at the provincial capital Jinan Port. Data shows that the number of Thai tourists increased by nearly 200% year-on-year, the number of Malaysian tourists entering and leaving the country surged by nearly 850% year-on-year, and the number of Vietnamese tourists entering and leaving the country exceeded 1200%. At the same time, traditional customer markets such as Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea have maintained steady growth of over 40%, and the international accessibility and regional radiation of Jinan Port have continued to soar.

Tip: Currently, the foreign tourism market at Jinan Airport has entered a critical stage of accelerated recovery, quality improvement, and expansion. Jinan Airport will continue to deepen its cooperation with port joint inspection units, iterate and upgrade customs clearance service guarantee measures, continuously improve cultural and tourism supporting policies for the benefit of the people, optimize the international route network, and deeply cultivate the inbound and outbound customer market. With better port services, richer cultural and tourism products, and a more open cooperation attitude, it will help Jinan build an important inbound and outbound tourism hub in the north, injecting new vitality into Shandong's cultural and tourism opening-up and cross-border integration development.

4. Jinan holds a specialized job fair on digitalization

On May 9th, Jinan held a "Smart Hub Golden Valley ? Industry Worry Free" digital intelligence recruitment fair. This job fair breaks away from the traditional job fair service model and empowers talents and industries with technology to achieve a "high-efficiency+long-term" two-way journey.

The job fair relies entirely on digital intelligent systems to create a paperless, efficient, and intelligent recruitment scene. After the job seeker signs in on site, the AI intelligent system instantly analyzes their resume and automatically matches it with the company's job requirements. The adapted position is directly pushed to the mobile phone. Scan the code to easily submit and have an instant interview, without the need for long waiting times. Multiple high-quality HR companies conduct on-site interviews, and job seekers with outstanding performance can sign in and receive their offers in as little as half an hour.

This job fair gathers 72 high-quality companies and releases nearly 300 positions, covering popular fields such as financial technology, software development, and modern service industry. Data shows that relying on digital technology, the efficiency of job matching has increased by 60% compared to traditional job fairs, truly breaking down recruitment barriers with technology.