- City sets higher thresholds for industrial funds, land and energy allocation to private projects
- AI scene rollout, sandbox regulation and faster procurement timelines included in latest plan
Hangzhou has unveiled a new package of 20 measures aimed at further improving its business environment in 2026, enhancing policy support across talent services, enterprise assistance, factor supply, rights protection and government services.
The plan sets stricter targets for resource allocation to private investment projects, requiring that government-backed industrial funds, newly supplied industrial land and incremental energy quotas each direct at least 80% of their support to private-sector projects.
On AI deployment, the city will publish at least 200 application “opportunity lists” and 200 “capability lists,” while also fostering more than 50 so-called “AI factories” to accelerate industrial adoption.
The “opportunity list” identifies real-world AI deployment needs, while the “capability list” catalogs companies and technologies able to provide those solutions.
Hangzhou also plans to expand experimental regulatory tools for emerging sectors such as AI and low-altitude economy, including sandbox regulation and enforcement observation periods.
Regulators will prioritize softer measures such as guidance, reminders and interviews over punitive action in early-stage cases.
Lighter penalties
A broader set of four-tier compliance lists — covering exemptions, lighter penalties, reduced penalties and exemptions from administrative coercive measures — will be rolled out with full coverage across sectors.
In government services, the city aims to keep complaint resolution and satisfaction rates on its proprietary “Enterprise Response” platform above 95%, while shortening government procurement contract signing timelines by more than five days compared with statutory limits.
Hangzhou now hosts more than 2 million business entities, and has ranked first nationally for 23 consecutive years in terms of the number of companies listed among China’s Top 500 Private Enterprises.
Since 2018, the city has released annual reform packages to improve its business environment, rolling out a cumulative 955 measures over eight years.
