SIP's reform and research offices convened a meeting on Oct 23 with representatives from a number of local research institutes and universities, seeking their opinions on the proposal to form a think tank focusing on development zones.

According to Shen Weiqi, an official from the offices, the think tank, designed to make researches of nationwide development zones' developmental trajectories and strategies, is expected to provide sufficient and reliable data basis for the development of SIP and other districts of similar kind across the country.

Based on that, the representatives from the organizations like NUS Suzhou Research Institute, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and Soochow University offered their advice.

The offices said they will soon launch related preparations, hoping to have the think tank set up in May, 2019.