At the 2026 Headquarters Economy Conference and the 6th Forum on Building Economy and High-Quality Urban Development, held as an official service trade fair thematic forum in Beijing on September 11, Chen Yuming, Deputy District Mayor of Nanjing's Jianye District and Party Secretary of the Jianye High-Tech Zone, shared insights on innovative pathways for urban development.

Addressing an audience of industry leaders, international organization guests, and entrepreneurs, Chen outlined how Jianye is positioning itself as a premier destination for corporate headquarters and modern building economies, presenting three core messages about the district's strategic advantages and future vision.

Jianye's Strong Foundation: A Prime Location for Headquarters and Building Economies

Jianye, cultivated over two decades as a modern international urban center, has established a robust industrial landscape anchored by premium commercial buildings and leading headquarters enterprises. The district exemplifies what Chen describes as the "three highs": high-energy industries, high-quality urban spaces, and a highly skilled population.

The district's GDP has surpassed the 150-billion-yuan mark, with tax revenues ranking among the top three county-level regions in Jiangsu Province. Jianye is home to over 120 secondary and tertiary subsidiaries of central state-owned enterprises, 79 headquarters companies, and 50 buildings generating over 100 million yuan in revenue each—all ranking first in the province. Notably, it holds more than half of Nanjing's licensed financial institutions and over two-thirds of its corporate headquarters. Industry heavyweights like Alibaba, Xiaomi, and JD.com have established their super research and development centers here, attracting supporting enterprises to cluster within the district's buildings and solidifying a robust industrial base.

Complementing this economic vitality is a high-quality living environment. The district boasts picturesque riverside scenery, cultural landmarks such as Jiangsu Grand Theatre and the Olympic Sports Center, and the Yuantong commercial hub, which has grown into a new consumption center for the Nanjing metropolitan area. With over 500 high-quality cultural, sports, and entertainment events annually—including popular "Super League" competitions—and comprehensive coverage of premium education, healthcare, and multi-layered transportation networks, Jianye provides solid infrastructure for corporate growth.

The district's population profile is equally distinctive. Each year, more than 20,000 highly educated young residents join the community, with those aged 17 to 40 accounting for over 40% of the total population. High-quality long-term rental apartments, such as Alibaba's Qinchengyu and Lingyu Qingyange, provide approximately 5,000 housing units annually, positioning Jianye as the "first stop" for young talent seeking opportunities in Jiangsu, ensuring a steady stream of human capital for the buildings and headquarters companies operating within the district.

From Space Creation to Scenario Creation: A New Development Path

Acknowledging the contemporary urban challenge of "spatial surplus and scenario scarcity," Chen emphasized the urgent need for a shift from the 1.0 era of "creating space" to a 2.0 era of "crafting scenarios." Jianye is proactively pioneering a new strategy driven by a "Finance + AI" dual-engine model and a "3C linkage" approach, where the Central Innovation District (CID) fosters innovation, the Central Business District (CBD) hosts headquarters functions, and the Central Ecological District (CED) enhances urban quality. Through the synergistic development of these three "Cs," buildings are being transformed from mere office spaces into incubators for technology, accelerators for capital, and habitats for talent.

Jianye is actively encouraging building owners to abandon a reactive "landlord mentality" in favor of becoming proactive "industrial partners," accelerating the evolution of ordinary office spaces into vibrant industrial communities and industry-focused hubs. The district is capitalizing on abundant innovation resources, with Nanjing housing over 50 universities and more than one million college students, positioning the region within the nation's top tier for innovation capability and offering a compelling combination of talent supply and cost advantages. Seizing the artificial intelligence boom, Jianye has allocated prime central urban space to build the Hexi Central Innovation District, unveiling high-level platforms such as the AI Time Nanjing International AI Community and the Jiangsu AI International Talent Innovation Port. These initiatives are attracting digital-tech and headquarters-focused enterprises, enabling a mutual empowerment between emerging industries and the building economy, thereby injecting new technological momentum into urban development.

The district is also fostering a synergistic ecosystem of capital and legal services. Leveraging two provincial-level platforms—the Purple Mountain International Sci-Tech Innovation Fund Street and the Jiangsu International Legal and Commercial Services Port—Jianye is constructing a comprehensive scientific and technological innovation financial ecosystem. This includes fund clusters, roadshow centers, and a sci-tech entrepreneurship business school, with the recent launch of multiple hundred-billion-yuan funds covering the entire lifecycle from angel investment to IPOs and mergers. Simultaneously, the district is strengthening its professional services clusters in law, intellectual property, and high-end consulting to provide a full-service legal and commercial support system, safeguarding headquarters companies throughout their technology development, commercialization, and regional or global expansion efforts.

Jianye offers rich and diverse application scenarios, actively opening up its entire urban landscape for practical use across the digital economy, financial innovation, culture, tourism, sports, and consumption sectors. This approach drives the creation of new scenes for industrial innovation and urban consumption, enabling buildings to serve multiple functions: technology transfer, industrial exchange, brand display, and consumer experiences. By seamlessly integrating building spaces with broader urban scenarios, Jianye ensures that innovative companies and headquarters institutions can easily find spaces, scenarios, and partners within the district, achieving a harmonious resonance between new-quality industries and the building economy.

Comprehensive Support and Services: A Commitment to Collaborative Growth

Chen reiterated Jianye's unwavering commitment to the service philosophy of "achieving success in Jianye, no worries hereafter," dedicated to creating a first-class business environment and providing all-encompassing, full-cycle support for partners. On resource connectivity, the district routinely establishes platforms for headquarters matchmaking, industrial supply-demand coordination, and innovation outcome conversion. These initiatives facilitate resource exchange among urban operators, headquarters enterprises, and scientific innovation entities, helping headquarters link with upstream and downstream ecosystem partners while empowering building operators to solidify their industrial ecosystems.

In terms of physical infrastructure, Jianye boasts over 30 million square meters of high-quality industrial space, with a leading number of Grade-A office buildings in the city. This includes a graded distribution from scientific innovation incubation hubs to headquarters-type buildings, fully accommodating enterprises' spatial needs throughout their lifecycle—from initial startup and expansion to final headquarters relocation. This array of spaces also offers urban operators a vast stage for specialized industrial operations. For enterprise services, Jianye continuously enhances its "Xiaomo" enterprise companion brand, assigning dedicated service specialists to every established enterprise and key commercial building. These specialists provide full-process agency services for administrative approvals, talent applications, and financial matchmaking, allowing companies to focus singularly on their core businesses while supporting urban operators in industrial recruitment and corporate service delivery.

Looking forward, Deputy Mayor Chen expressed sincere hope that experts and industry peers will provide strategic guidance for Jianye's industrial development, helping attract more headquarters projects and innovative scenarios to the district. He extended a warm invitation to headquarters companies and urban operators to visit and explore collaboration opportunities, aiming to jointly upgrade building quality, create urban scenarios, and build industries together. For investors, he emphasized Jianye's commitment to discovering high-quality investment tracks and potential projects, championing a patient-capital approach to empower hardcore technology and channel financial resources toward industrial growth, thereby collectively writing a new chapter in the district's high-quality urban development.

Concluding his remarks, Chen captured the conference's spirit: "Facing transformations, we seize opportunities; gathering strength for reinvention, we embark on new journeys." He affirmed that Jianye offers vast spaces for dreamers, a high-quality ecosystem for growth, and an unwavering commitment to serving development. "We stand ready to join hands with all of you," he stated, "marching in the same direction on the journey of innovation and entrepreneurship, and jointly painting a beautiful blueprint for high-quality development." He extended his congratulations on the forum's success and wished all attendees health and success in their endeavors.