The city's annual Science and Technology Innovation Conference took place on the 8th, where the 2025 Qingdao Municipal Science and Technology Awards were officially presented to a total of 103 recipients. This year's honorees include one recipient of the city's top science prize, 17 Natural Science Awards, 4 Technology Invention Awards, 79 Science and Technology Progress Awards, one Achievement Transformation Contribution Award, and one International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.

A remarkable 71 of the awarded projects, accounting for 85.5% of all industry-related accolades, fall within the "10+1" innovative industrial system and the "4+4+2" modern marine industry framework. Among the first-prize winners, more than 80% are concentrated in emerging sectors such as life sciences and intelligent equipment, alongside future industries including aerospace information and deep-sea development.

Hisense Visual Technology Co., Ltd., a key player in the new display arena, was honored with the Grand Prize in Science and Technology Progress. The company shattered technical barriers in high-end display technology by spearheading the research and industrialization of next-generation ultra-high-definition LCD terminal technology featuring three-dimensional color control, thereby cementing China's leading global position in the display sector.

Innovations in marine science are also generating significant impact. Academician Chen Songlin, a researcher at the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, received the city's top science award. His extensive work in fish biotechnology and genetic breeding has catapulted Qingdao's research in these fields to internationally leading standards. Notably, marine-related projects account for 21% of all first-prize and above winning entries, directly supporting national priorities in marine equipment, port logistics, and offshore oil exploration, while contributing a suite of internationally leading technologies that provide crucial backing for national defense and oil and gas exploration.

The role of enterprises as primary innovators continues to strengthen. Companies are taking on core technological challenges with growing vitality. Of the Technology Invention and Science and Technology Progress Awards handed out this year, 68 projects—or 81.9%—were led or participated in by businesses, an increase of eight percentage points from last year. The awards' reach has also extended to more tech-focused small and medium-sized enterprises, with 135 companies involved this year, marking a nearly 20% year-on-year rise. Notable winners include Qingdao Aomeike Medical, which secured the First Prize in Technology Invention, while firms like Zhongke Xingtu, Qingyuan Compounds, and Huaxin Jingdian each claimed the First Prize in Science and Technology Progress.

The efficiency of translating research into commercial outcomes has seen a marked improvement, as the city places greater emphasis on applied research and the industrialization of scientific results. This year, 58 projects—68.9% of all industrial application projects—involved industry-university-research collaboration, a substantial 16-percentage-point increase over the previous year. The figure climbs to an impressive 89.5% for first-prize winning projects. The Haier Washing Machine Technology Achievement Transformation Team was awarded the Achievement Transformation Contribution Award, having generated global cumulative revenue exceeding 180 billion yuan from industrializing scientific outcomes over the past three years. This team has effectively fused innovation and industry chains, driving coordinated growth for more than 100 local upstream and downstream suppliers and positioning Qingdao as a benchmark for efficient tech commercialization while bolstering its advanced manufacturing clusters.

Young researchers are stepping into the spotlight as key drivers of progress. The average age of this year's award winners is 40.7, with those aged 40 and under making up 51.1% of the honorees. Furthermore, 57.9% of the first-prize project leaders are 45 years old or younger. These emerging talents are making their mark across basic research, applied development, and technology transfer, solidifying their status as the backbone of deep integration between scientific innovation and industrial advancement.

Key statistics from the 2025 Qingdao Municipal Science and Technology Awards: 71 projects in the "10+1" and "4+4+2" systems, or 85.5% of industry projects; over 80% of first prizes focused on emerging and future industries; 21% of first-prize and above awards in the marine sector; 68 enterprise-led projects representing 81.9%, up 8 points year-on-year, with 135 participating companies, a near 20% increase; 58 collaborative projects, or 68.9%, up 16 points from last year, with 89.5% for first-place; and an average winner age of 40.7, with 51.1% aged 40 or under, and 57.9% of first-prize leaders aged 45 or under.

The Haier washing machine team, which has evolved from a modest 30-person R&D group in 1995 into a formidable 1,000-person workforce, clinched this year's Achievement Transformation Contribution Award by tackling some of the industry's most stubborn technical challenges. Over three decades, the team has repeatedly earned National Science and Technology Progress Awards and Chinese Patent Gold Awards, with 66 core technologies independently recognized as world-first, internationally leading breakthroughs. Their success lies in bridging the gap from laboratory experiments to full-scale mass production.

When asked about their strategy for converting research into market-ready products, team leader Lü Peishi emphasized that innovation must be rooted in the genuine needs of consumers. He pointed to an example from the 1990s, when the industry often joked that washing machines were useless in the summer because they were too bulky for small homes. The team identified this pain point and developed the world's first compact, fully automatic "mini" washing machine. The product struck a nerve with consumers, selling out all 109 units at a Shanghai department store in under 30 minutes.

Continuing this user-centric approach, the team has steadily solved fundamental washing challenges. At the turn of the century, with global washing machines divided into three types—agitator, drum, and pulsator—each with inherent drawbacks, they developed the "Dual Power" model, creating another bestseller that laid the groundwork for Haier's eventual global sales leadership. In another instance, they partnered with institutions like Qingdao University of Science and Technology to develop advanced rubber materials that dampened vibration and reduced noise. More recently, the team introduced "air washing," a third washing mode beyond traditional water and dry cleaning. This method precisely controls temperature, humidity, and airflow to care for high-end garments without chemicals, enriching millions of households. Subsequent innovations like 3D perspective drying and AI-driven direct drive technology have continued to push the industry's boundaries.

Behind these achievements lies a systematic innovation framework. The team avoids research conducted for its own sake, instead adhering to a closed-loop model: capturing user requirements, achieving principle breakthroughs, innovating technology, commercializing results, and scaling up in factories. They also champion open, borderless innovation, collaborating with universities, research institutes, and industry experts to form a cross-organizational network spanning mechanical engineering, electronics, textiles, chemicals, fluid dynamics, and heat exchange. With over 17,000 invention patents filed, the team has driven 110 technologies into commercial production in the last three years alone, enhancing China's competitiveness in the global washing machine sector.

At Qingdao Port's Xilian Company, the era of "zero-person operations" is a reality. As pulp cargo arrives by ship, intelligent spreaders—guided by AI—swiftly locate and securely grasp the cargo in the vessel's hold, loading it onto self-driving IGV vehicles that transport it to warehouses, where telescopic forklifts unload and meticulously stack the goods. Overseeing these operations is the "Pieces and Miscellaneous Goods Digital Intelligence Center," where operators manage the entire process from remote workstations.

This transformation is the result of the "Key Technologies and Applications for Fully Automated Pulp Handling at General Cargo Terminals" project, which clinched a First Prize in the 2025 Qingdao Science and Technology Progress Awards. While container and bulk cargo automation is widespread, general cargo—with its diverse shapes and complex handling conditions—has traditionally relied on manual labor, a global challenge in port automation. To overcome this, the project team developed several original technologies. The independently developed "Beichen" scheduling system acts as the terminal's digital brain, consolidating operational data and generating commands. AI-driven dynamic layering technology, combined with electronic ship diagrams, automatically analyzes cargo layout and plans optimal picking paths to maximize efficiency.

Previously, a single pulp loading operation required two workers to manually attach and detach hooks 32 times, with each cycle taking at least five minutes. Now, the automated system completes the same task in just three minutes, with a single remote operator handling monitoring duties. The intelligently designed spreader, akin to an industrial claw machine, adjusts its hooks to grasp different pulp sizes without damaging packaging, employing contact and weight sensors along with anti-sway technology for precise, manual-free grabbing. IGV vehicles equipped with laser vision and BeiDou 5G positioning enable autonomous transport, allowing former truck drivers to navigate from the remote operation center, with vehicles capable of automatic obstacle avoidance and self-charging. As the world's first project to fully automate and digitize general cargo pulp handling, it is projected to cut manual workload by 80%, boost overall efficiency by 20%, reduce terminal energy consumption by 63%, slash carbon emissions by 18%, and generate 570 million yuan in comprehensive economic benefits.

Deep inside the sealed crystal growth furnaces of Qingdao Huaxin Jingdian Technology Co., Ltd., sapphire crystals—essential for semiconductor substrates—are taking shape. At temperatures reaching 2050 degrees Celsius, alumina raw material melts, and a seed crystal initiates the slow, carefully controlled growth of a sapphire ingot, which can weigh between 400 and 1,000 kilograms, over a period of days to weeks. This breakthrough earned the company a First Prize in the 2025 Qingdao Science and Technology Progress Awards for its "Large-Size Sapphire Crystal Growth and Substrate Preparation Key Technologies and Applications" project.

Beneath its jewelry-like luster, artificially grown sapphire—single-crystal alumina—serves as a critical foundational material, or "foundation," for countless optoelectronic devices, from LEDs and photodetectors to advanced displays and optical communications. Historically, domestic production of large-size sapphire crystals and substrates faced significant hurdles due to difficulties in scaling crystal size without introducing defects like slippage or twinning, which would ruin an entire ingot. To address this, Huaxin Jingdian partnered with Tongji University to delve into the fundamental mechanisms of crystal growth. They innovated a "dual-heater independent temperature control" method based on the Kyropoulos technique to manage the solid-liquid interface shape, minimizing defect formation. They also developed "all-carbon" hot zone technology to overcome the instability of traditional metal hot zones and implemented specialized mixed-flow atmosphere control to prevent melt contamination. This combination has enabled the stable production of hundreds-of-kilogram, C-axis-oriented sapphire crystals, securing the supply chain for the semiconductor optoelectronics industry.

The grown crystals then undergo cutting, grinding, and polishing to produce substrate wafers for chip manufacturers. The project established a theoretical model for ultra-precision surface processing, achieving a 15% reduction in surface roughness for 12-inch sapphire substrates, a 13% improvement in total thickness variation, and a 22% decrease in warpage, while particle purification rates now exceed 99%. Independent testing confirms that the substrates' technical specifications meet or exceed international benchmarks. With monthly shipments and market share now at the industry's forefront, Huaxin Jingdian is poised for further growth. Riding the wave of the AI computing boom, new applications such as data center optical interconnects and AR micro-displays are expanding the market for sapphire substrates. Following a roadmap of industrializing one generation, reserving the next, and developing the next, the company is also advancing materials like indium phosphide and gallium oxide to solidify the foundation for next-generation information technologies.