2026 Zhijiang Business Forum Observation: "Four Articles" in Institutional Opening

China News Service, Hangzhou, November 7 (Xi Jinyan) On November 7, the 2026 Zhijiang Business Forum opened in Hangzhou. Unlike most economic and trade forums, this forum with the theme of "Institutional Opening and Trade Development" puts technical work such as standards, testing certification, and intellectual property rights that are usually hidden behind certificates and terms at the center of the main forum.

Forum site. Photo provided by the organizer

Among the batch of achievements released that day, there are intelligent agents that provide one-stop, intelligent, and full-process overseas quality and compliance services, standardization cooperation action plans signed with countries co-building the “Belt and Road”, and exploration of multiple governance and dispute resolution paths for companies to deal with patent licensing disputes.

Standards co-construction: Invite purchasers into the standards development room

A daily necessities buyer in Yiwu who travels to the Middle East all year round. When purchasing plastic hangers in the past, he was always worried about trade disputes caused by differences in standards such as size, environmental protection, and durability. When developing the "Plastic Clothes Hanger" group standard, he was invited to participate with buyers and distributors from all over the world, and the real needs of overseas markets were written into the standard terms. Now he no longer needs to make repeated comparisons, saying bluntly, "I have participated in the standards, so I know what the product should look like, and I feel more confident when placing orders." So far, Zhejiang has released 138 group standards for small commodities and developed 79 standards in foreign languages ​​such as English and Arabic.

Inviting foreign businessmen into the standards development room is an aspect of "standards co-construction". Standards are the universal language of international economics and trade. Participating in the formulation of international standards means participating in the governance of global rules. International standards are not about "who listens to whom." Only rules with the participation of all parties can truly cross national boundaries and win recognition. With the support of the State Administration for Market Regulation, Zhejiang has undertaken the implementation of international standardization technical organizations, promoted local enterprises to deeply participate in the development of international standards, and used standards as a link to connect global industrial networks: Zhejiang has led the formulation of 133 international standards in total, and will take the lead in the release of 30 international standards in 2025, accounting for nearly 1/9 of the country. Currently, 10 international standardization technology institutions such as e-commerce have settled in Zhejiang.

Certification interoperability: the vote of trust behind a certificate

From January to September 2026, Zhoushan Port completed 2,162 foreign ship repairs, achieving an output value of 12.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.8%. Previously, the international ship repair field has long lacked a unified green standard system and certification mutual recognition mechanism. There is no unified quantitative evaluation basis for the green ship repair level of shipyards, which has pushed up the cost of collaboration across the entire industry chain. In 2025, the China Green Ship Repair International Certification Innovation Alliance was established in Zhoushan, bringing together 53 domestic and foreign institutions and enterprises to jointly build a full-chain certification system of "evaluation + accounting" and provide the global ship repair industry with a set of jointly constructed and shared rules and public goods. Orders from global shipowners are the most direct receipt of this set of rules.

Certification and accreditation are the "passport of trust" for international trade. The closer the connection, the lower the cross-border institutional costs. Zhejiang innovates the "one verification, multi-country mutual recognition" model to reduce repeated testing and certification: Zhejiang has obtained more than 60,000 certifications for environmental management systems, green and low-carbon products, etc., has cultivated a total of 5,977 "Made in Zhejiang" enterprises, and issued international cooperation There are 719 certification certificates, covering 46 countries and regions, driving exports of more than 175 billion US dollars; in October this year, Zhejiang brands made their first appearance at the Vienna Brand Global Summit, using "standards + certification" to promote the move from "products overseas" to "brands overseas".

Intellectual property protection: "Combined adjustment and adjustment" to resolve disputes

A Swiss biopharmaceutical company discovered that two of its compound invention patents were suspected of infringement in multiple provinces in China, including two small and medium-sized enterprises in Zhejiang. After the intellectual property department accepted the case in accordance with the law, on the day of hearing of the case, as both parties expressed their willingness to reconcile, the arbitration-to-mediation process was initiated on the spot, and communication and negotiation between the two parties were organized, and the settlement was facilitated on the same day. This not only quickly protected the intellectual property rights of foreign-funded enterprises in accordance with the law, but also guided local enterprises to increase their awareness of intellectual property protection, clarified the direction of market development, and helped both parties avoid more litigation costs.

This case is a footnote to “equal protection.” Intellectual property rights play a dual role in technology supply and institutional supply. It not only strictly protects the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises in Zhejiang, but also proactively serves the compliance needs of overseas enterprises.

It is reported that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people in Zhejiang Province rose to 24.3, and the number of patent-intensive products ranked first in the country; the number of PCT international patent applications reached 22,258, an increase of 1.1 times compared with the "13th Five-Year Plan" period. For enterprises going overseas, Zhejiang has deployed overseas intellectual property service stations in key markets such as the EU and ASEAN, and launched the "Zhejiang Knowledge·Overseas Protection" platform, which has helped more than 5,000 companies safeguard their rights.

TBT review: Let the voice of the industry be heard

In 2025, a WTO member announced a draft quality control order for bearings and spare parts. Many Zhejiang companies faced the risk of being blocked in exports and defaulting on order delivery. The Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Quality Sciences immediately teamed up with relevant industry associations in Zhejiang and Jiangsu to organize experts to dismantle and judge the draft item by item, forming more than 10 comments. Since then, it has continued to carry out constructive consultations through multilateral rules channels such as the WTO Geneva regular meeting, and ultimately promoted relevant parties to adjust implementation arrangements, winning a valuable adjustment buffer period for domestic bearing export companies.

To put forward constructive opinions on behalf of the industry regarding unreasonable technical regulations and "let the voice of the industry be heard, respected and adopted" is to participate in the improvement of international rules in a constructive manner. Zhejiang has innovatively built a rapid response mechanism of "Risk Warning + Notification Review + Special Trade Consultation + Special Topic Research", carried out notification and review of more than 700 items, adopted 189 items, submitted more than 100 issues of special trade concern, accounting for more than 50% of the country's total, and the service export scale exceeded 600 billion yuan.

From "passive compliance" to "active participation"

"If standards are consistent, trade will be integrated; if rules are compatible, cooperation will be win-win." The next step revealed at the forum is to extend this tool chain to the enterprise side.

According to the keynote speech and forum site, Zhejiang will expand the pilot program of "Strengthening Enterprises through Technology and Trade", deploy technology and trade workstations in key industries such as intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing, and support more enterprises to participate in the development of international standards; expand the Zhejiang Manufacturing International Certification Alliance, expand international mutual recognition in the fields of green products and industrial products, and deepen cooperation with WIP O, EUIPO and other cooperation and exchanges to build a strong "Zhejiang Quality" matrix; strengthen the construction of the BRICS Standardization (Zhejiang) Research Center, prepare for the 2027 BRICS Ministerial Conference on Standardization, create a high-energy quality infrastructure 2.0 platform, and provide technical support for global trade of small and medium-sized enterprises. (over)