The Zhoushan municipal development and reform commission recently signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Institute of Seawater Desalination and Multipurpose Utilization.

According to the agreement, the two sides have established cooperative relationship, and will work together to build a national-level research center for seawater utilization in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province in the first half of 2020.

The Institute of Seawater Desalination and Multipurpose Utilization, located in Nankai district, Tianjin, is a national public non-profit research center focusing on the development and industrialization of seawater desalination technologies. It is only one of its kind in the country.

The institute has completed over 100 key scientific and technological projects, won nearly 40 national and provincial awards for its achievements in seawater desalination, and received more than 200 national patents since it was established in 1978.

The institute will help Zhoushan with advanced design, academic exchange, and technology commercialization in the field of seawater desalination.

Meanwhile, Zhoushan will provide comprehensive support services to the institute and implement incentive policies to boost the seawater desalination industry.

The city was designated as a national pilot area for seawater desalination by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2013.

Since then, it has been striving to promote seawater desalination projects and has completed a total of 29 such projects that can produce 320,000 metric tons of fresh water per day since it was established.

The city is expected to produce more than 500,000 tons of fresh water from seawater within the next five years, more than any other city in the country.