QINGDAO, Shandong, Oct. 15-- China published its first ocean science and technology innovation index on Wednesday, which evaluates the ocean science and technology development level of Chinese cities.

According to the first evaluation, Qingdao, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Dalian cities topped the index's ranking. Organizers said the ranking was based on data of innovation investment, output, application and environment.

The index also provides detailed readings on ocean industry distribution in the cities, pointing out advantages and weakness.

The Xinhua Ocean Science and Technology Innovation Index was jointly released by the Xinhua (Qingdao) International Ocean Information Center and the State Financial Information Center Index Research Institute.

The index was launched at the Qingdao International Ocean Summit Forum in Qingdao City, east China's Shandong Province, on Wednesday. The two-day meeting has attracted 500 officials and representatives from 13 countries and international organizations.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the forum, Shen Haixiong, vice president of Xinhua News Agency, said the advancement in science and technology is an important support pillar for China to build itself into a strong maritime power.

The index is aimed at making scientific evaluation of the ocean science innovation ability and the standard of materializing the technology to spur the marine economy and surveillance and provide reference to policy makers, he said.

The Xinhua (Qingdao) International Ocean Information Center and the State Financial Information Center Index Research Institute has become the country's leading ocean information collection, processing and releasing platform.

They jointly released Xinhua Ocean Development Index in November last year, which evaluates the comprehensive growth of the marine industry. While the ocean science and technology innovation index can be seen as a sub-index to enrich the report.