The Suzhou Area of the China (Jiangsu) Free Trade Zone. [Photo/2500sz.com]
The Suzhou Area of the China (Jiangsu) Free Trade Zone saw three cases make the list of top 10 institutional innovation cases in the Jiangsu FTZ over the three years since its establishment, according to a press conference hosted by the provincial government on Aug 30.
Institutional innovation is the core task of FTZ construction. In order to meet the needs of market players, the Suzhou FTZ has been carrying out integrated institutional innovation around industrial chains.
The Suzhou FTZ is located in the Suzhou Industrial Park and boasts advantages in the development of biopharmaceuticals, which has maintained a growth rate of more than 20 percent in its output value for many years.
In June, the integrated innovation results of the biopharmaceutical industrial chain in the Suzhou FTZ were officially released at the Suzhou Biopharmaceutical Industry Innovation Cluster Promotion Conference.
So far, the Suzhou FTZ has carried out more than 10 institutional innovations such as the Shanghai-Suzhou clinical trial collaboration mechanism around the entire biopharmaceutical industrial chain.
The Suzhou FTZ is now home to more than 2,000 biopharmaceutical enterprises. From January to July this year, its biopharmaceutical industry output value increased by 11 percent year-on-year to about 76 billion yuan ($10.96 billion).
The Suzhou FTZ has also been striving for higher standards and comprehensive opening-up. It is now leading China-Singapore cooperation with a dedicated data line linking the two places.
With safe and efficient interactions of cross-border data, the Suzhou FTZ is learning from the experience of the Singapore Free Trade Port and accelerating the construction of a series of key Sino-Singapore cooperation projects such as the International Corridor.
In May, the Suzhou FTZ was named the province's first and only provincial foreign capital headquarters economic cluster. At present, nearly 5,000 foreign-invested enterprises from more than 90 countries are operating there. It is also home to nearly 20 percent of provincial headquarters and more than 40 percent of foreign-funded R&D centers in Jiangsu.
In the past three years, a total of 766 foreign-invested enterprises have been established in the Suzhou FTZ, with the actual use of foreign capital amounting to $3.78 billion.