A Beidou navigation industry alliance was officially launched at the Qingdao National High-tech Industrial Development Zone on September 3, with approval coming from the city’s Commission of Economic and Information Technology.

Led by the Qingdao Academy for Opto-Electronics Engineering of the CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences), the alliance comprises 40 research institutes, universities and enterprises, including the Ocean University of China, the First Institute of Oceanography of the SOA (State Oceanic Administration), Qingdao Institute of Surveying and Mapping, and BDStar Information Service Co, Ltd.

The industry alliance aims to integrate industry resources and give full play to the advantages of its members in a bid to raise R&D, application and service levels of China’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System.

The alliance will engage itself in setting up an open platform for exchange, cooperation and innovation.

It will encourage its members to form a collaborative innovation and long-term strategic cooperation mechanisms with a focus on the R&D of products and applications, as well as carry out activities, including technological cooperation on the Beidou Navigation Satellite System, demonstration of the industrial application of the Beidou technology and service promotions.

To begin with, the industry alliance will start construction on two demonstrative projects -- Smart Ocean and Smart Transportation, as well as holding seminars on the application of the Beidou system in the marine sector, in order to promote the use of the Beidou system in the eastern Chinese coastal city’s maritime, transportation, logistics and equipment manufacturing fields.

In the next phase, the High-tech Zone plans to form a Beidou positioning service company based on the industry alliance, build a public service platform and establish an independent innovation system for the Beidou navigation industry. It also plans to build a special industrial park for the Beidou Navigation Satellite System to promote the industry’s sustainable development.