On August 8, the 2026 Zhenjiang Sci-Tech Innovation Conference and the 4th Jinshan Talent Week kicked off. Building on the success of seven consecutive editions of the Conference on Industry-University-Research Collaboration between Universities, Research Institutes and Zhenjiang, this year’s event has been expanded in scope and enhanced in quality. Under the theme of “Innovation Empowerment, Industrial Transformation, Talent Gathering in Zhenjiang, and Shared Success with Talent”, the event features 15 themed sessions through late August, achieving full coverage of all districts and sectors across the city, key industrial chains, and diverse innovation entities. A number of academicians and expert teams from more than 200 universities and research institutions were invited to participate. Mr. Zhao Yan, Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province, attended and addressed the event, while Mr. Han Jiecai, President of Harbin Institute of Technology and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, gave a speech. 

Zhao Yan noted that Zhenjiang, as an important component of the Sunan National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone, has in recent years firmly pursued an innovation-driven development strategy. The city has made solid progress in implementing its strategy of strengthening the city through industry, while creating an increasingly vibrant environment for innovation and entrepreneurship. He expressed the hope that Zhenjiang would continue to deepen collaboration between universities and high-tech zones, explore new models for deeper integration of industry, academia and research; actively integrate into the Yangtze River Delta innovation network and play a greater role in cross-regional collaboration; and unleash the innovative vitality of talent to set a higher standard in building a first-class innovation ecosystem.

At the conference, Zhenjiang released its “Nine Initiatives” for innovation-driven transformation and a new round of the “Zhenxing” Talent Action Plan. A number of high-caliber innovation platforms were unveiled, including the School of Technology and Business of Jiangsu University of Science and Technology and the Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Industry Sub-center under the Provincial Technology Property Rights Trading Market. Plaques were granted to eight municipal-level talent research and innovation consortia. A number of ministerial-level incubators, provincial-level pilot platforms for manufacturing and provincial-level emerging technology enterprises also received official recognition. Seven batches of agreements across five categories were signed at the event, covering university-enterprise industry-academia-research collaboration, technology investment attraction, sci-tech innovation fund cooperation, cooperation between universities and Zhenjiang’s county-level cities and districts, and comprehensive strategic cooperation between the Zhenjiang Municipal People’s Government and Harbin Institute of Technology and Harbin Engineering University.