On April 16, a delegation led by Chen Zhong, Party Secretary and Chairman of Haikou Rural Revitalization Investment and Development Group, visited Nankai University for research and discussions. Former President of Nankai University and Honorary Dean of the Hainan Institute, Hou Zixin, along with relevant leaders and faculty members from the Hainan Institute, the Communist Youth League Committee, and the School of Economics, attended the meeting. The two sides engaged in in-depth discussions on accelerating the integration of industry, academia, research, and application, and on building a model base for rural revitalization.
Hou Zixin emphasized that since its establishment five years ago, the Nankai University Hainan Institute has adhered to its mission of “Understanding China, Serving China.” It has integrated the university’s high-quality resources to support major national strategies and has made positive contributions in areas such as think tank platform development, policy consultation, education and training, and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. These efforts have been widely praised by all sectors in Hainan Province. The Germplasm Innovation Center team at the Hainan Institute, in collaboration with Nankai’s School of Life Sciences and its internationally advanced research capabilities, is actively supporting the major national strategies of deepening reform and opening up in Hainan and building the Hainan Free Trade Port with Chinese characteristics. Together, they are establishing a government-industry-university-research alliance to jointly address bottleneck technologies, cultivate agricultural industrial chains with proprietary intellectual property—including traditional Chinese medicinal materials, rubber, and fruits and vegetables—and contribute to building a national model for rural revitalization and to the local economic development of Hainan. He expressed hope that this meeting would serve as a springboard for the localization of Nankai’s scientific achievements in Hainan, driving regional industrial transformation and high-quality development.
Chen Zhong noted that 2025 marks the year of customs closure operations for the Hainan Free Trade Port. As the capital city and core leading area of the free trade port, Haikou is coordinating reforms and high-quality development before and after the customs closure. The city is accelerating the implementation of core policies and striving to build a modern industrial system with local characteristics and advantages. Leveraging the free trade port’s favorable policies for introducing high-quality germplasm resources, Haikou is optimizing its agricultural structure, cultivating a tropical agricultural system, and strengthening the upstream production side of the agricultural supply chain to enhance market competitiveness. Additionally, the city aims to take full advantage of favorable policies such as “zero tariffs” and “duty exemption for processing value-added products,” further extending the agricultural value chain into secondary industry, increasing the added value of agricultural products. It will also capitalize on its existing market foundation to seize development opportunities and fill downstream gaps in the agricultural chain, thereby promoting full-chain development. Chen expressed hope that both parties will establish a regular communication mechanism, strengthen the sharing of resources, complement each other’s strengths, and jointly overcome technical challenges in the development of modern agriculture to achieve a mutually beneficial partnership.
Both parties engaged in in-depth discussions on advancing future collaboration. They explored current challenges in Hainan’s agriculture sector, identified potential areas for cooperation, and discussed using key pilot projects to drive the broader application of scientific and technological achievements and the joint development of core technologies.
