The China (Jiangsu) Pilot Free Trade Zone Suzhou Area (Suzhou FTZ) in SIP has demonstrated high performance as a “pressure testing site” for reform and opening-up and a “source of innovation”. Since its inception six years ago, it has carried out over 240 institutional innovations that play a pioneering or leading role in Jiangsu province and even the whole country, including 13 being rolled out nationwide and 59 duplicated across Jiangsu province.

One of the achievements is the Suzhou Freight Station of Shanghai Airports established in April as the first trans-provincial, cross-customs-district air freight station in the country. The freight station provides a set of services for cargoes from the surrounding areas to go through security and customs inspections before being exported through airports in Shanghai.

Another achievement is the building of Suzhou International Data Port, which is designed to help promote market-based allocation of data elements as well as safe and efficient cross-border flow of data elements.

The FTZ has also launched Sushutong, a public service platform aimed at facilitating cross-border data transfer, and adopted a one-stop service mode to support overseas investment.

To bolster development of biotechnology, the FTZ created the Yanyida mode in 2020 to lift restrictions for enterprises to import from overseas medical devices that are not registered in the country for use in R&D activities, and upgraded it later to cover not only medical devices but also medicine, reagents and chemical raw materials.

The FTZ has made remarkable achievements in improving local business environment through institutional innovations, such as optimizing the administrative procedures for project review and localizing senior professional title accreditation for biomedical engineering professionals.

September 8, 2025