From October 16 to 18, 2026, the 29th Annual Meeting of the National Economic Geography Research Association and the National Social Science Fund-supported Symposium on Optimizing the Regional Economic Layout and Promoting Coordinated Regional Development were held in Shijiazhuang. Jointly hosted by the association and Hebei Normal University, the event brought together more than 300 leading experts and scholars from institutions including Peking University, Tsinghua University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Renmin University of China, Nankai University, and Jinan University.

CESD regional economics faculty members Professors Zhou Mi and Zhang Gui, doctoral student Zhang Xinbei, and Lü Xiaojing, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Chinese Modernization Studies, attended as a delegation. They exchanged views on developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions, using the digital economy to support regional development, and building the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei international science and technology innovation center.

CESD’s regional economics team presented its latest findings in keynote and parallel sessions, receiving strong praise from participants and demonstrating its sustained academic contributions to regional economic research. As a major gathering of China’s economic geography community, the meeting provided an important opportunity for CESD to follow emerging research, deepen academic cooperation, and strengthen its capacity to inform policy. The regional economics team will continue to participate in high-quality academic conferences, contribute Nankai perspectives to disciplinary debate, and support the development of an independent knowledge system of Chinese regional economics.