In Haining's Jianshan New District, Zhejiang, a modern white building is rising from the ground. This is the global research and development center under construction for JinkoSolar Co., Ltd. The establishment of this center is an innovative move by Jiaxing City as part of its strategy to deepen the implementation of innovation-driven development and strengthen the role of enterprises as the primary drivers of innovation.
To integrate and enhance corporate innovation resources and cultivate technologically competitive leading enterprises, the Jiaxing Science and Technology Bureau issued the "Guidelines for the Establishment and Recognition of Jiaxing Global R&D Centers (Headquarters-type R&D Centers)" on December 30, 2025. This initiative makes Jiaxing a pioneer in Zhejiang Province in exploring the construction of global R&D hubs. Recently, the first batch of eight enterprises, including Satellite Chemical, Huayou Cobalt, and JinkoSolar, received approval for their global R&D center plans.
"Global R&D centers play a leading and demonstrative role in the construction of corporate R&D institutions in Jiaxing. They represent iconic carriers and exemplary points for the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation," said Zhang Min, Deputy Director of the Jiaxing Science and Technology Bureau.
Establishing a Tiered Cultivation System Statistics show that the establishment rate of R&D institutions among Jiaxing's large-scale industrial enterprises has reached 74.33%, ranking first in Zhejiang for several consecutive years. The city has cumulatively established 60 provincial-level key enterprise research institutes and 451 provincial-level enterprise research institutes, with both numbers leading the province.
Among the numerous tech enterprises, the innovative driving force of leading companies is of particular focus. As early as 2022, the city began exploring ways to promote the construction of headquarters-type R&D centers by leading enterprises like Huayou Cobalt. The "Guidelines" issued by the Science and Technology Bureau propose creating two types of high-level platforms—global R&D centers and headquarters-type R&D centers—catering to enterprises at different development stages.
"We received applications from 10 enterprises in the first batch and ultimately recognized 8," a relevant official from the bureau explained. "Our goal is not merely to grant a title, but to genuinely encourage enterprises to coordinate global innovation resources, establishing a functional R&D hub in Jiaxing that is actionable, transformative, and leading."
Leveraging over two decades of industrial chain accumulation, Huayou Cobalt has established a complete layout from resource development to material manufacturing, with resource bases in countries like Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, forming an initial global footprint. The global R&D center located in Tongxiang has become the hub for the company to manage its worldwide innovation resources.
"The globalization of the R&D system is both an industry trend and an inevitable choice for our company's development," said Zhang Bing, Vice President of Huayou Cobalt. The global R&D center will undertake the function of linking and integrating global innovation resources, promoting the rapid transformation and application of cutting-edge processes and technologies across its industrial bases worldwide. "For instance, the nickel-cobalt smelting technology at our Indonesian base, after optimization through the global R&D center, has seen a comprehensive energy consumption reduction of approximately 40%," Zhang Bing added.
"The construction of global R&D centers signifies that Jiaxing has taken the lead in Zhejiang in establishing a tiered cultivation system comprising 'Municipal High-Tech R&D Centers — Provincial Enterprise Research Institutes — Provincial Key Enterprise Research Institutes.' This uses institutional innovation to leverage corporate R&D capability upgrades, providing a 'Jiaxing model' for the Yangtze River Delta to build a globally influential sci-tech innovation hub," stated Zhang Min.
Targeting Over 10 Centers by Year-End It is understood that the "Guidelines" set clear quantitative requirements for applicant enterprises regarding R&D expenditure, R&D personnel, industry-academia-research collaboration, and international market share of main products. A specific requirement is that enterprises establishing global R&D centers must have R&D branches overseas.
Furthermore, the "Guidelines" include comprehensive support measures covering talent introduction, research funding, and commercialization of results, such as policy funding support of up to 100 million yuan and the establishment of targeted research projects.
The practice of JinkoSolar serves as a typical example of local policy empowerment. Corporate R&D investment in Jiaxing has approached 200 billion yuan over the past four years, maintaining an annual level of over 10 billion yuan.
"Jiaxing's proximity to Shanghai and Hangzhou, convenient transportation, ease of retaining talent, and strong government support give us the confidence to place our global R&D focus here," said Xia Chaojie, R&D Manager at JinkoSolar. As one of the first batch of recognized global R&D centers, with a total investment of 1.2 billion yuan, it will gather thousands of R&D personnel, becoming the "intelligent brain" serving JinkoSolar's global operations. "Over 90% of our R&D personnel will converge here; this is the 'heart' of JinkoSolar's global innovation," Xia Chaojie explained.
Jiaxing will fully leverage the innovative demonstration and leadership role of leading enterprises, enabling them to shift from single-technology R&D to global innovation resource integration, and from following innovation to leading innovation, ultimately forming an innovation ecosystem characterized by "enterprise leadership, government support, and industry-academia-research collaboration."
"Moving forward, we will plan and layout around industrial fields such as artificial intelligence, life sciences, integrated circuits, and new materials. We aim to establish over 10 global R&D centers (headquarters-type R&D centers) by the end of 2026, seize a number of high ground in frontier technologies, achieve a series of landmark scientific research outcomes, and provide strong support for building a high-level innovative city," Zhang Min stated.
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