The local two sessions serve as a window into the regional economy.

Setting economic growth targets has become one of the core focuses.

A review of the government work reports reveals an increasingly clear roadmap for investment promotion.

A series of new directives and initiatives highlight differentiated development paths.

As we stand at the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan, what important signals have been sent?

01 Lowering GDP Targets Without Slacking Off: Shifting from Fixed Values to Range-Based Targets

Local Two Sessions have all closely centered on the main theme of high-quality economic development.

This focus is reflected in the adjustment of GDP growth targets.

This year, major economic provinces have all, almost in unison, stated that they will “strive for better results in actual work.”

Compared to last year, most regions have lowered their 2026 GDP growth targets.

This is not merely a numerical adjustment, but a scientific assessment based on actual economic conditions and the external environment.

In fact, localities are proactively moving away from “speed anxiety” and shifting their focus to improving the quality of development.

Accompanying the slowdown in growth is a new trend of shifting GDP targets from “fixed values” to “range-based targets.”

Several major economic provinces have broken with traditional models, using range-based targets to create room for industrial upgrading and policy adjustments.

We anticipate that the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (the “Two Sessions”) in March may also lower the GDP target and adopt a range-based approach, further clarifying the “quality-first” philosophy.

It is worth noting that major economic provinces in the east have taken the initiative, setting their targets within the 5–5.5% range.

From a national perspective, the differences in local GDP targets essentially reflect the “national coordination” approach, with regions collaborating and leveraging their respective strengths based on their unique advantages.

Eastern provinces such as Guangdong and Zhejiang have proactively adjusted their growth rates, moving beyond the misconception of “competing on scale and speed.” They have shifted their investment promotion focus to high-end, high-quality projects with strong industrial alignment, serving as leaders in the nation’s economic transformation.

In the central region, provinces such as Hubei, Jiangxi, and Henan are targeting medium-to-high growth rates of 5% to 5.5%. Leveraging their geographical advantage as a bridge between the east and west, they are prioritizing the attraction of mid-stream supporting industries and domestic demand-oriented sectors to solidify the foundation for economic growth.

The three provinces in the Northeast have set growth targets of 4.5% to 5%. Aligning closely with the overarching goal of comprehensively revitalizing the old industrial bases, they are leveraging their unique strengths to steadily cultivate new productive forces and stimulate new drivers of development through industrial upgrading.

Western and frontier provinces, leveraging policy and resource advantages, have set higher growth targets, prioritizing the attraction of distinctive industries such as new energy, new materials, and the integration of culture and tourism.

02 Breaking Through Industrial Stagnation Without Following Trends: Artificial Intelligence Leads the Way in Differentiated Breakthroughs

Cultivating new-quality productive forces is a core focus of local Two Sessions and a key direction for investment promotion efforts.

Unlike the previous extensive approach of “chasing trends and prioritizing scale,” regions are no longer engaging in blind, homogeneous competition but are instead leveraging their own resources and industrial foundations.

While focusing on breakthroughs in emerging industries, they also emphasize upgrading traditional industries, resolutely avoiding homogeneous competition, and charting a path that aligns with local development realities.

Judging from the plans outlined at local Two Sessions, the “differentiated” and “systematic” characteristics of industrial investment promotion are becoming increasingly evident.

Industries such as robotics, biopharmaceuticals, commercial space, and brain-computer interfaces have become key targets for investment promotion, while artificial intelligence—as a crucial driver for fostering new productive forces—has emerged as a “must-win arena” for investment promotion across the country.

Innovation hubs such as Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Guangdong have taken the lead, moving beyond merely establishing industrial presence to focus on industrial chain development. They are precisely targeting enterprises in core segments to secure a commanding position in industrial development.

➢ Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei: Addressing the Disconnect Between R&D and Commercialization

Leveraging the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development strategy, the three regions have broken down administrative barriers to establish an industrial investment promotion system characterized by “clear division of labor, complementary strengths, and efficient coordination,” completely reversing the previous imbalance where “Beijing had R&D but no implementation, while Tianjin and Hebei had space but lacked technology.”

Beijing focuses on cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, smart connected new energy vehicles, and life sciences, prioritizing the recruitment of high-end R&D institutions, leading innovative enterprises, and core technology teams to build a top-tier national innovation hub.

Tianjin, building on its manufacturing foundation, prioritizes the midstream manufacturing segments of the industrial chain. It conducts targeted investment promotion in areas such as battery cell R&D and equipment manufacturing to improve the industrial support system.

Hebei, meanwhile, focuses on application scenarios and technology commercialization, prioritizing the recruitment of enterprises involved in scenario validation and equipment assembly to establish itself as a key hub for industrial transformation within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Currently, the core priority of investment promotion efforts across the three regions is to remove barriers to the cross-regional flow of talent, technology, and capital, further enhance the rate of implementation and commercialization of Beijing’s innovation outcomes in Tianjin and Hebei, and drive the formation of a complete “R&D-commercialization-manufacturing” closed-loop in industrial investment promotion across the three regions.

➢ Yangtze River Delta: Regional Collaboration to Build an AI Industry Hub

Leveraging the advantages of concentrated innovation resources and a robust industrial foundation, the artificial intelligence sector in the Yangtze River Delta exhibits the distinct characteristics of “comprehensive coverage, refined division of labor, and coordinated efforts.”

Entering 2025, as the iteration of large-scale model technologies accelerates and scenario applications continue to deepen, regions across the Yangtze River Delta are further refining their investment promotion roles.

Shanghai is focusing on core sectors such as high-end chips and critical components, prioritizing the attraction of leading enterprises with core technological competitiveness to solidify the foundation of industrial development.

Jiangsu is emphasizing the R&D of industry-specific chips and chip materials, focusing on the deep integration of AI and manufacturing, and attracting supporting and application-oriented enterprises.

Zhejiang is concentrating on communication chips and vision chips, prioritizing the attraction of projects in digital economy and AI application scenarios to drive the practical implementation of technologies.

Leveraging the strengths of its national laboratories, Anhui is prioritizing the chip packaging and testing segment, building a hub for the quantum AI industry, and enhancing downstream support for the industrial chain.

Thanks to this precise division of labor, the Yangtze River Delta’s integrated circuit industry now accounts for three-fifths of the national total, forming a new industrial investment landscape characterized by “distinct specializations, complementary strengths, and region-wide synergy.”

➢ Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao: Integrating the Full "R&D-Application" Chain of the AI Industry

Guangdong leverages the collaborative advantages of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, prioritizing “strengthening innovation, promoting application, and clustering industries” in its industrial investment promotion. It has explicitly proposed building an industrial science and technology innovation center with global influence, focusing investment promotion efforts on sectors such as new energy, intelligent connected vehicles, 6G, and brain-computer interfaces. The province is refining support policies for the first-of-a-kind, first-batch, and first-version applications to fully address the “last-mile” challenges in technology implementation.

In the AI sector, Guangdong emphasizes the distinctive approach of “Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong collaboration and multi-city synergy”:

Guangzhou focuses on AI chip R&D, prioritizing the attraction of projects related to chip design and R&D platforms to build a hub for AI chip development; Shenzhen leverages its manufacturing strengths to attract robotics and smart device manufacturers, driving the deep integration of AI with the real economy; Hong Kong capitalizes on its international advantages to attract high-end talent, cutting-edge technologies, and multinational corporations, serving as a bridge for international innovation cooperation.

➢ Central and Western Regions: Leveraging Local Endowments to Forge Distinctive Industrial Pathways

Central, Western, and frontier regions have moved away from the misconception of “blindly following trends” in investment promotion. Instead, they adhere to the principle of “capitalizing on local endowments and playing to their strengths,” deeply integrating industrial investment promotion with local resource advantages and industrial foundations.

In the fields of new energy and new materials, Inner Mongolia leverages its advantages in rare earths, nickel, cobalt, and other resources to prioritize attracting battery manufacturers and enterprises engaged in the deep processing of new materials, thereby establishing a core supply base at the upstream of the industrial chain.

Sichuan and Qinghai are focusing on the development and utilization of lithium ore resources, precisely targeting lithium battery-related enterprises to improve the supporting infrastructure for the lithium battery industry; Xinjiang and Ningxia, leveraging their abundant wind and solar energy resources, are prioritizing the attraction of projects integrating green computing power with clean energy to build distinctive green industrial clusters.

In terms of regional industrial layout, Jiangxi has established an investment promotion framework characterized by “multi-point support and tailored approaches.” Nanchang focuses on high-tech industries such as aviation equipment and electronic information, prioritizing the attraction of high-end manufacturing and core supporting projects; Ganzhou and Yichun leverage their advantages in rare earth and lithium battery resources to deepen investment promotion in distinctive industries, aiming to build nationally renowned rare earth and lithium battery industrial bases.

Yunnan and Guizhou, meanwhile, leverage their ecological advantages and geographical characteristics to prioritize the recruitment of projects in cultural tourism, wellness, and the digital economy. They are promoting the deep integration of ecological tourism with green energy and the digital economy to create new models of green growth.

Furthermore, major centers of science and education such as Xi’an, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Chongqing are leveraging the talent and technological advantages of their top-tier local universities and research institutes. By building on their foundations in traditional industries like electronics and aerospace, they are prioritizing the recruitment of “hard tech” projects to foster a virtuous cycle of “talent aggregation—technology R&D—project implementation—industrial upgrading,” thereby injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of regional industries.

03 Ensuring Performance Evaluation Remains Central: Reforming the Performance Assessment System to Unleash Potential

Achieving high-quality development in investment promotion requires guidance from a scientific evaluation system.

This year’s government work reports across the country have all emphasized improving governance standards, explicitly calling for an end to “whim-driven” decision-making, reducing the burden on grassroots-level officials, and rectifying malpractices in the investment promotion sector, while incorporating compliance, effectiveness, and sustainability into the core considerations of investment promotion.

Currently, as we navigate the critical overlap of leadership transitions and the launch of the 15th Five-Year Plan, localities are thoroughly abandoning the crude evaluation methods that focus solely on the “number of projects attracted” and “amount of capital raised.” Evaluation criteria have shifted from “how many projects were attracted” to “how many high-quality projects were attracted and what tangible results they have generated.”

Practice has proven that 5% growth of high quality is more valuable than 10% growth reliant on repetitive construction and inefficient investment. Localities have called for becoming “swift and decisive executors and proactive problem-solvers,” which also clarifies the work orientation for investment promotion professionals.

For a long time, strict accountability and one-dimensional evaluation criteria have trapped some grassroots investment promotion staff in a dilemma where “the more they do, the more mistakes they make; the less they do, the fewer mistakes they make,” stifling the vitality of investment promotion efforts.

The signals sent by this year’s local Two Sessions have effectively resolved this dilemma. “Combining the evaluation of individuals with the evaluation of results, so that those who are willing and capable of getting things done can actually do them and achieve success”—this essentially amounts to implementing a mechanism for tolerating mistakes.

For investment promotion professionals, as long as their efforts are aimed at driving local development and not for personal gain, they will not face excessive accountability even if mistakes occur during innovative exploration. This undoubtedly serves as a “reassuring guarantee” for those who dare to pioneer and experiment, allowing officials to work without undue pressure.

More in line with practical realities, many regions have explicitly stated their intention to refine “differentiated performance evaluations,” establishing distinct assessment criteria based on regional characteristics—a direct embodiment of the principle of “adapting to local conditions” in performance evaluation.

For example, in resource-based cities, attracting projects focused on deep processing of resources and green transformation constitutes a core achievement; in innovation-driven cities, successfully attracting high-end innovation projects and talent teams represents a key breakthrough.

The principle of “evaluating based on actual performance” fundamentally frees investment promoters from unnecessary constraints. It ensures that localities no longer need to incur debt to attract projects unsuitable for their regions simply to meet GDP growth targets. Instead, they can focus on their own strengths, attract high-quality projects, make long-term strategic plans, and pursue tangible development.

In Conclusion

The 2026 local Two Sessions have concluded, charting a clear course for investment promotion efforts.

The adjustment to a GDP range-based system drives higher-quality and more efficient investment promotion; a differentiated industrial layout guides targeted investment efforts; and the optimization of the evaluation system frees up and empowers investment promotion professionals.

Only by adhering to the facts, adapting to local conditions, working diligently, and focusing efforts precisely can we inject new momentum into high-quality local development and deliver satisfactory results in this inaugural year of the 15th Five-Year Plan.