GUANGZHOU-The Institute of Free Trade Zones at Sun Yat-sen University held an event celebrating its recent research achievements. The Institute published the Blue Book of China Pilot Free Trade Zone Development (2019–2020), the institutional innovation index of China pilot free trade zones (2019– 2020) and the top 10 institutional innovation cases of China pilot free trade zones (2019–2020).

The institutional innovation of the China pilot FTZ is reproducible and can be extended. Li Shanmin, director of the Institute of Free Trade Zones, said that China's FTZs are led by free trade ports; coordinated across Western, Central and Eastern China; and guided by development plans for land and sea regions. FTZs along the south-eastern coastal areas have gradually developed into a mature phase. Central and northwestern FTZs have been continuously developing. Some new FTZs have just entered the initial period. Though different FTZs face various development situations, they share the same reproducible and extendable objective of introducing institutional innovation.

Fu Zhengping, dean of the Institute of Free Trade Zones, introduced the institutional innovation index of 43 pilot free trade zones. Based on five grade one indicators—investment facilitation, trade facilitation, innovation in financial management and services, transformation of government functions, and legal environment—Shanghai, Qianhai, Nansha, Tianjin, Xiamen, Chengdu, Wuhan, Fuzhou, Hengqin and Chongqing ranked in the top 10. According to Fu, pilot FTZs have become pioneers in the new round of opening up and reform. Considering overall indicator scores, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has shown its strong motivation for institutional innovation and clear achievements, ranking first with a score of 87.14. Chengdu, Wuhan, Fuzhou and Chongqing also hold leading roles in completing universal reforms and emphasizing regional characteristics. As the overall scores of the third batch of the China Pilot Free Trade Zones keep rising, Chengdu ranked first with 79.92, while Wuhan, Chongqing, Dalian and Zhoushan followed closely. All FTZs have shown clear results of reform, such as sufficient motivation to conduct institutional innovation, strong initiatives and accelerated integrated institutional innovation.