All restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector have been cleared, the pilot project of opening up the entire biomedical industry chain has been accelerated, and 28 special policies have been implemented to optimize the foreign investment environment…… Eat the meal of reform and take the open road; At present, Jiangsu is taking multiple measures to transform the “key variables” of institutional opening-up into a “powerful increment” of foreign capital agglomeration.
On March 26, the 2025 Jiangsu Province U.S.-funded Enterprise Roundtable was held in Nanjing, where a number of U.S.-funded companies shared their new plans of “investment plus”, talked about the sense of gain from taking root in Jiangsu, and looked forward to the beautiful vision of walking with Jiangsu and dancing with the world.
Institutional innovation, foreign enterprises “can enter” and “go far”
Foreign-funded enterprises are important participants and active contributors to Jiangsu’s reform and opening up, 408 of the world’s top 500 enterprises have invested in Jiangsu, and there are 43,000 foreign-funded enterprises in the province, and the actual utilization of foreign capital in Jiangsu Province has ranked first in the country for many years.
To live up to every “vote of confidence”, Jiangsu has created a better business environment for foreign investment with practical actions and pragmatic policies. “Our province attaches great importance to the development of foreign investment, continues to update relevant policies and measures, and continuously improves the level of utilization of foreign investment.” Si Yong, director of the Provincial Department of Commerce, said at the event that he would fully implement the policy of opening up foreign investment, deepen institutional innovation in key areas, and effectively strengthen the service guarantee for foreign-funded enterprises.
In terms of policy, foreign-funded enterprises are encouraged to set up R&D centers in Suzhou, and dual incentives of “one exemption and one refund” are given. When relevant enterprises import R&D equipment, they are exempted from import tariffs, import value-added tax and consumption tax; When enterprises purchase domestic R&D equipment, they can fully refund the VAT.
Deepening innovation and “two-way running” gave birth to the chemical reaction of “1 1>2”. Biomedicine is one of Jiangsu’s advantageous industries, and it is also a key area for U.S.-funded companies to invest in Jiangsu. At present, Jiangsu is actively striving for national support for the Jiangsu Pilot Free Trade Zone to carry out pilot projects for the open and innovative development of the whole biomedical industry chain, and in the future, Jiangsu will support more foreign-funded enterprises to enter the pilot scope of the “white list” for the import of biomedical R&D items.
Jiangsu will further promote the facilitation of personnel exchanges, actively help foreign-funded enterprises to be included in the “National Key Foreign-funded Project List” and “Provincial Major Industrial Project List”, strengthen tracking services and factor guarantees, and improve the normalized government-enterprise communication and exchange mechanism to speed up the response to the difficulties of foreign-funded enterprises.
The continuous optimization of the business environment allows foreign companies not only to “attract in”, but also to “grow bigger” and “go far”——
“The company entered Jiangsu in 1996 and has now set up 10 wholly-owned or joint venture companies in Jiangsu, attracting 2,500 employees to work in Jiangsu.” Wang Su, vice president of Honeywell China, was deeply touched and looked back at the “road of peers”, and the “growth footprint” was clearly visible: the company’s factory in Suzhou was rated as a national green factory, and the Zhangjiagang and Nanjing factories were rated as provincial green factories. Recently, the company partnered with a local company in Lianyungang to build a large-scale aviation fuel production base, the first phase of the project was put into operation, with an annual output of about 500,000 tons, and the two sides will jointly develop new green and low-carbon technologies.
Accelerating the introduction of innovation and deepening local cooperation is the vision and goal of Liang Yan, vice president of Stryker China, to “join hands” with Jiangsu this year. “At present, 30% of the company’s products are exported, and 70% serve the Chinese market.” She introduced that the company has established production bases in Changzhou and Suzhou, and will bring more products and solutions to the Chinese market this year around orthopedics, medical equipment, neurointervention, etc.
Two-way rush, foreign enterprise projects and Jiangsu industry “symbiosis and co-prosperity”
Innovation, research and development, this is the exchange of US-funded enterprises talk about the “high-frequency words”, but also the “common language” of dialogue and exchange between foreign-funded enterprises and Jiangsu local governments, universities and institutes, Jiangsu’s rich scientific and educational resources, encourage innovation and pragmatic policies, for the transformation of foreign enterprises into achievements has opened the “revolving door”.
“To date, we are the world’s largest supplier of wind turbine blades, with our main operations in China concentrated in Jiangsu, with production bases in Suzhou, Taicang, Changshu and Kunshan.” Pang Xiongying, global vice president and head of Asia of Weislei, introduced that at present, Huasu Plastic Co., Ltd., which is located in Suzhou, has more than 20 invention patents and has participated in the formulation of national technical standards. This year, the company will actively increase production capacity, strive to achieve wide application in the field of special composite materials, and provide high-performance products for the development of China’s green industry.
Half a month ago, GE Medical Ultrasound Greater China Headquarters and High-end Medical Device Ecosystem Project started in Wuxi High-tech Zone. “Last year’s output value was close to 4 billion yuan, and we hope that the output value can reach 5 billion yuan within five years.” Xu Jun, Managing Director of GE Healthcare China, mentioned that Jiangsu’s policy of encouraging foreign companies to develop R&D has made enterprises feel very excited, and half of the company’s ultrasound patents are located in Wuxi. In Wuxi, the production chain and R&D chain are integrated with each other to form a favorable closed loop for sustainable development. He expects that the company can actively participate in the “two new” actions in Jiangsu, and open up the development world for the enterprise with the broad market of Jiangsu.
Deeply cultivate the local area, from investors to “fellow travelers”
The “magnetic attraction” of the open Jiangsu continues to increase, so that more and more foreign-funded enterprises are more determined to deepen Jiangsu and become “fellow travelers” from investors. Actively promoting localization has become the common choice of many American-funded enterprises on the scene.
“The group has opened more than 800 hotels in China, of which nearly 100 are located in Jiangsu, which is the province with the largest number of hotels in China.” Du Yingjie, General Manager of InterContinental Hotels Group Greater China, said that the Group is full of confidence in the development of Jiangsu’s tourism market. At the same time, he expects the group to actively participate in Jiangsu’s actions to promote consumption and expand domestic demand, and give full play to its own advantages to work with Jiangsu to promote the high-quality development of the cultural and tourism industry and improve the level of inbound reception.
From an international student at Fudan University to a “foreign investment guide”, Tao Kerui, Managing Director of APCO Greater China, is a “China expert”. In the past 30 years in China, he has not only witnessed the butterfly changes of opening up Jiangsu, but also helped high-quality foreign-funded enterprises such as Zeiss, Johnson Controls, and Merck to land in Jiangsu with professional services. He said that the company will provide professional solutions for enterprises from all over the world to invest in Jiangsu with a global vision and local insight, and promote the common development of foreign enterprises and Jiangsu.
“In recent years, the company has made contributions to serving the Chinese market and empowering the development of the biomedical industry.” Wei Chunyan, vice president of Danaher China, said that the company will focus on building China’s first customer experience center in Suzhou this year, focusing on the innovation source of medical institutions, deep links with governments, hospitals, universities, etc., and opening up the policy chain, industrial chain and talent chain.
Walk with Jiangsu and win-win in cooperation. Zhu Liangwen, vice president of Emerson Asia Pacific, said that Emerson Process Control Flow Technology Co., Ltd., established in Nanjing, has been rated as a provincial intelligent manufacturing demonstration factory, and the group will build the company into one of the most accurate flow calibration laboratories in the Asia-Pacific region.
