Comprehensive Bonded Smart Hub: Leveraging Integrated Advantages to Help Enterprises Navigate Complex Economic Challenges

Current China-US economic and trade relations are facing certain challenges, with the US side recently implementing tariff adjustment measures on certain Chinese goods. This situation has objectively increased cost pressures for some of China’s export-oriented enterprises and has also had a certain impact on the stable operation of global supply chains. As the world’s two largest economies, the healthy development of China-US economic and trade relations is of significant importance to the global economy. In this context, Comprehensive Bonded Zones (CBZs), leveraging their policy and institutional advantages, have become a key support for enterprises in addressing trade barriers and restructuring global supply chains. As the operator driving urban renewal in the Airport Area of the Tianjin Port Comprehensive Bonded Zone, Tianbao Infrastructure Company has actively launched a themed industrial park—Tianjin CBZ Smart Hub City—to assist enterprises in coping with changes in the global economic environment.

As the only state-controlled main-board listed company under the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone, Tianbao Infrastructure closely follows global technological frontiers and national major development strategies, prioritizing the biomedical technology industry as a key focus for its high-quality transformation and development. The Tianjin Comprehensive Bonded Zone Zhihuicheng Biomedical Themed Park, constructed and operated by the company, is a key project in the Binhai New Area. Phase I of the project is scheduled to officially open within this year, with the goal of establishing a national-level demonstration zone for life science industry commercialization. Leveraging its status as a special customs supervision area, the park integrates the dual advantages of the “Comprehensive Bonded Zone + Free Trade Zone” framework and implements a suite of supportive policies: First, tax reductions and exemptions—equipment, molds, and spare parts required for production by enterprises within the zone are exempt from import duties and import-related taxes; goods entering the zone from abroad are subject to bonded management, allowing deferred payment of customs duties. Second, facilitated export tax rebates—domestic raw materials entering the Comprehensive Bonded Zone are treated as exports and eligible for tax rebates; goods processed and manufactured within the zone are exempt from value-added tax (VAT) and consumption tax when directly exported or sold to other enterprises within the zone. Third, flexible application of trade agreements—goods exported through the Comprehensive Bonded Zone may qualify for preferential tariff rates under rules of origin if they meet specific conditions, significantly enhancing their competitiveness in international markets.

Figure: Aerial rendering of Phase I of Tianjin Comprehensive Bonded Zone Zhihuicheng

In response to the complex and volatile external environment and the practical needs of enterprises, the Tianjin Comprehensive Bonded Zone Zhihui City Project has proactively integrated into the new development paradigm characterized by "domestic circulation as the mainstay, with domestic and international dual circulation reinforcing each other." Through policy innovation and model upgrades, the project opens up diversified development paths for enterprises and implements targeted measures to address the current global economic landscape. On one hand, prioritizing domestic circulation, the project fully taps into its own potential to achieve high-level self-reliance and strength. Relying on two major innovation platforms—the "AI-Based Immune Drug Screening Platform" developed in collaboration with Nankai University and the "Bonded Service Station of the Tianjin Institute for Innovation in High-End Medical Devices" established in partnership with the Tianjin Institute for Innovation in High-End Medical Devices—the project assists enterprises in accelerating the breakthrough of critical "chokehold" technologies in key fields. It promotes the incubation of innovative projects within the park to achieve the localization of core technologies and products, thereby reducing dependence on technologies from developed countries such as the United States and mitigating the impact of severe fluctuations in external economic markets on enterprises.

On the other hand, the dual-circulation strategy, encompassing both domestic and international cycles, facilitates better connectivity between the domestic and international markets. By making fuller use of both domestic and international markets and resources, China aims to enhance its capacity for global resource allocation and secure greater strategic initiative in pursuing open development. Leveraging the natural endowments, industrial advantages, and market resources of China and other countries, efforts will be made to actively explore emerging markets such as Europe, ASEAN, and the Asia-Pacific region, and to encourage enterprises within bonded zones to strengthen cooperation with their foreign counterparts.

Figure: Rendering of the R&D Center, Phase I of Tianjin Comprehensive Bonded Zone Zhihui City

Jiang Feng, Chairman of the National Medical Device Industry Technology Innovation Alliance and Dean of the Tianjin Institute for High-End Medical Device Innovation, stated, “As a national-level specialized innovation park for medical devices, the Zongbao Zhihui City leverages the policy advantages of customs special supervision areas. By establishing a full-chain incubation system encompassing ‘scientific research and innovation, project incubation, and industrial commercialization,’ it can efficiently help enterprises overcome bottlenecks in import substitution for high-end medical devices and core components, accelerate the process of localization, foster clusters of innovative medical device products with independent intellectual property rights, and strive to resolve key common technological challenges in the industry.”

Notably, the industrial park has innovatively implemented a “dual circulation” development strategy: it promotes the commercialization of local innovative achievements while attracting original research products from multinational corporations. Through institutional innovations such as bonded R&D and global collaborative innovation, internationally advanced medical devices can undergo localized adaptive improvements within the park, fostering a virtuous cycle of “global innovation–China translation.” This open innovation model not only helps enhance clinical diagnosis and treatment standards in China but also drives the upgrading and iteration of the entire industry chain through technology spillover effects.

Figure: Rendering of the standalone R&D building in Phase I of Tianjin Comprehensive Bonded Zone Zhihui City

The Phase I of the Tianjin Comprehensive Bonded Zone Smart Hub project, with a planned construction area of approximately 170,000 square meters, is scheduled for completion and delivery in the first half of this year. Positioned as a bonded R&D center, Phase I is a specialized thematic park integrating a comprehensive R&D service center, standalone R&D buildings, pilot-scale workshops, pilot-scale factories, and intelligent pharmaceutical warehouses. It is designed to meet the full-spectrum needs of enterprises, from innovation and R&D to commercial production. In terms of product design, the park is oriented towards the full lifecycle needs of biopharmaceutical companies, taking into full consideration the characteristics of the biopharmaceutical industry. It features specialized biopharmaceutical carrier spaces with high ceiling heights, wide column spacing, and high load-bearing capacities, thereby more precisely matching the R&D, pilot-scale testing, and production requirements of technology-driven biopharmaceutical enterprises. Regarding industrial operations, the project adopts a “five-in-one” operational model—integrating finance, funds, investment, supply chain, and services—to comprehensively embed itself within the industrial ecosystem, aggregate essential resources to empower enterprise development, and promote the coordinated and rapid growth of enterprises, the industry, and the region.

Figure: Rendering of the Pilot Workshop, Phase I of Tianjin Comprehensive Bonded Zone Zhihui City

Currently, the Comprehensive Bonded Zone is building a strategic pivot for the “dual circulation” strategy—integrating domestic and international markets—through policy coordination and functional upgrades. Tianjin Comprehensive Bonded Smart City has attracted significant attention from export-oriented enterprises due to its unique advantages. Meanwhile, aligning with the trend of high-quality development in the biopharmaceutical industry, the park is actively constructing a more robust industrial ecosystem. Its dual value as an “innovation incubator” and a “cost buffer” will become increasingly prominent, further empowering enterprises to take the initiative amidst the global restructuring of industrial chains.