On September 18, the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Jiangsu Province issued a notice to launch the selection of provincial industrial chain leader enterprises. This initiative, deployed across all municipal industry and information technology bureaus, is designed to cultivate and support a group of leading companies that can steer industrial chain development, dominate resource allocation, and shape the industrial ecosystem. The ultimate goal is to strengthen enterprise innovation capacity and enhance the overall competitiveness of the province's industrial chains, with application materials due by October 15, 2026.
To qualify, applicant companies must generally be listed as "quasi-chain leader" enterprises in the "Building Strong Chains" key enterprise database or be recognized as provincial-level leading enterprises. The financial requirements stipulate that a company's main business revenue must rank within the top three in its sector within the province, and its asset-liability ratio must not exceed 75%.
On the product front, each applicant must hold at least one leading product that ranks among the global top 10 or domestic top 3 in market share, supported by a nationally recognized unified corporate brand or product line. Innovation capability is a critical criterion, requiring enterprises to own more than 30 Category I intellectual property rights related to their main business. These include invention patents, new plant varieties, national crop varieties, national new drugs, nationally protected traditional Chinese medicine varieties, and integrated circuit layout design rights. Additionally, companies must operate a research and development institution at the provincial level or above.
There is a strict operational bottom line as well. Applicants must not have experienced any major or above-level safety, quality, environmental pollution, cybersecurity, or data security incidents in the past three years. They must also be free of significant illegal activities, including tax evasion, tax fraud, or serious credit violations. Companies with controlling relationships are generally limited to one application per group, although entities under the same controlling shareholder without direct equity ties are not subject to this restriction.
The application process follows a structured two-step approach. Municipal bureaus will first conduct a preliminary review of submitted materials, focusing on verifying compliance with the safety, quality, environmental, and legal criteria, before recommending qualified candidates to the provincial department. Following this, the provincial department will organize formal reviews and expert evaluations to determine the final list of chain leader enterprises.
Municipal bureaus are instructed to designate dedicated personnel to mobilize eligible enterprises and assist them in compiling application packages. All recommendation documents, paper application forms, and supporting material—one copy each—along with electronic versions, must be submitted to the Small and Medium Enterprise Bureau of the provincial department by October 15. Recommended applicants should also note that the documentation references the "1650" Industrial System Catalogue as part of the application annex.