During the first three quarters of the year, the gross domestic product of Tai'an High-Tech Industrial Development Zone totaled 16.79 billion yuan ($2.42 billion), an increase of 8.23 percent over the same period last year, according to official statistics.

In this period, the area's tax revenue surged 23.66 percent year on year, reaching 2.6 billion yuan. It included the industrial and commercial tax revenue of 2.44 billion yuan, up 50.68 percent year on year.

According to the local authorities, the high-tech zone has been ramping up efforts to promote investment and talent introduction.

In the first three quarters of 2019, it signed 51 new projects, with a total investment of 32.6 billion yuan. Construction began on 28 projects, and 23 were completed and put into operation.

The number of high-level talents at or above the provincial level reached 290, including 18 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.