In the Prime of Life - Opening Statement for Series Report “Growing with Our Investors” Marking the 40th Anniversary of Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area

In 2024, the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA) will celebrate its 40th anniversary since its establishment. As one of the significant achievements of China’s reform and opening-up policy, TEDA has undergone a historic transformation from saline-alkali wasteland to an internationally renowned modern industrial city. Over the past 40 years, it has been a journey marked by challenges and opportunities, evolving from obscurity to becoming one of China’s premier development zones. The people of TEDA, with their spirit of “openness, exploration, striving for excellence; innovation, pragmatism, and collective efforts to build a new city,” have created an impressive TEDA speed and a vibrant narrative of high-quality growth.

Starting from a modest 33 square kilometers of salt fields and wastelands, TEDA has developed for 40 years, establishing a comprehensive development pattern with a total planned area of 403 square kilometers, featuring a prominent theme and ten distinctive sub-zones. By 2022, the total industrial output value of the entire TEDA exceeded 500 billion yuan, accounting for a quarter of Tianjin’s total. By the end of 2022, TEDA had attracted 6,416 foreign-funded projects from 97 countries and regions, with actual utilization of foreign capital reaching $68.281 billion. Among them, 117 Fortune Global 500 multinational companies invested in 532 projects. Over the years, TEDA has consistently ranked at the forefront of the national-level comprehensive development assessment by the Ministry of Commerce, experiencing rapid economic development and becoming an ideal place for business investment and development. TEDA has become a crucial gateway for Tianjin and even China’s opening-up, playing a demonstrative, radiating, and driving role in the construction of national-level development zones.

Since proposing the concept of industrialization management in the 1990s, after years of cultivation and accumulation, TEDA has formed three 100-billion-yuan industrial clusters in automobiles and high-end equipment, new chemical materials, and next-gen information technology, as well as a 50-billion-yuan industrial cluster in pharmaceuticals and healthcare. Additionally, modern service industry clusters, represented by industrial finance and platform economy, have also emerged. TEDA has not only attracted world-renowned multinational companies such as Toyota, Volkswagen, SEW, Samsung, Novo Nordisk, PPG, Nestlé, and Coca-Cola but has also nurtured a batch of locally competitive enterprises like Deepinfar, EFY Technology, EMAGING Technology, and Reach Surgical, injecting vigorous momentum into economic development.

Reflecting on TEDA’s 40 years of development, each phase of growth corresponds to the strong pulse of China’s reform and opening-up, bearing distinct characteristics of the times.

The initial ten years from the establishment in 1984 were a period of exploration and seeking solutions for TEDA people. With no prior experience to draw upon, TEDA started from scratch, taking the lead in implementing a legislative-first management model. Innovatively, we put forward concepts such as “investors are kings and projects are lifelines” and the construction of a “simulated international investment environment.” Infrastructure development expanded from “three availables and land flattening” to “seven availables and land flattening” and “nine availables and land flattening,” ushering in a new phase of investment attraction and accumulating funds for regional development.

The second decade marked TEDA’s proactive service-oriented development stage. TEDA vigorously optimized its business environment, introducing the concept of “new nine availables and one platform” (information, market, regulatory, supporting, logistics, capital, talents, technology, service, and new economic platform). It gradually established a well-rounded investment environment with both hardware and software improvements. During this period, TEDA placed more emphasis on the scale and quality of foreign investment, bringing in a large number of high-level, high-quality foreign-funded projects. This led to a development trend of “attracting one, bringing a series, and radiating a region,” significantly enhancing overall strength.

With the rapid influx of foreign enterprises around the turn of the millennium, the young TEDA entered a high-speed development stage driven by innovation and economic optimization. TEDA continued to create a high-quality investment environment, promoting a surge in investment promotion. Alongside attracting foreign investment, TEDA achieved a balanced development between domestic and foreign capital, with industries continuously gathering and the industrial chain extending. The benefits of innovation-driven development became increasingly prominent, and strategic emerging industries flourished, guiding industrial development towards high-end, intelligent, and low-carbon directions. High-quality development thus became the spearhead in regional growth.

After three decades, TEDA underwent a phase of second entrepreneurship and restructuring. TEDA anchored its goals in building a central zone of advanced manufacturing R&D base and a core area of beautiful Binhai City. TEDA continuously optimized its industrial structure, strengthened manufacturing advantages, and actively guided the diversified development of the service industry. TEDA encouraged and supported companies in establishing R&D centers and headquarters-type institutions. This helped empowering manufacturing industry upgrades with technology, finance, and the new economy, driving service industry development, and composing a new chapter of high-quality development.

Companies are the fundamental cells of socio-economic development, intimately connected to economic progress, even determining the vitality of the entire socio-economic system. The rapid and steady development of a region’s economy will accelerate the continuous convergence of global high-tech capital. From simple responses to active responses, and then to meticulous cultivation and active guidance, in the past 40 years of development, TEDA has vigorously optimized the business environment. Its service philosophy has been constantly updated, deepened, and refined. Aligning with the needs of enterprises, TEDA actively provides front-line services, offering professional, refined, and customized one-stop services throughout the entire life cycle. By innovatively addressing problems and providing replicable and sustainable solutions, TEDA has assisted enterprises in solving practical issues and creating a fertile ground for their growth, achieving its own breakthroughs and continuous growth.

The best relationship between a city and enterprises in it is one of mutual empowerment and shared growth. As a crucial window of China’s reform and opening-up, TEDA has been a pioneer in the construction and progress of development zones, an innovator in shaping the concept of the business environment. Here, foreign enterprises continuously expand their scale, and local enterprises take root and grow. TEDA has become a model of mutual growth with enterprises. Therefore, we have specially planned the “40th Anniversary of Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area - Growing with Our Investors” series report, paying tribute to TEDA’s 40th-anniversary celebration. This feature takes everyone through the different stages of TEDA’s development, showcasing the collaborative efforts with enterprises and hoping to provide inspiration to all.

Let us move forward together, brave and tenacious, making TEDA’s tomorrow even brighter.