On December 24-27, Wen Xueguo, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy, led a research delegation to Nanjing University, Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences and other think tanks, to conduct research on "building new types of think tanks with Chinese characteristics".

This think tank survey focused on such issues as the basic situation of think tanks, achievement production model, talent training mode, evaluation elements, and standards, the major dilemma that the think tank construction faced etc. According to Professor Zhu Qingbao, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of Nanjing University, the think tank of Nanjing University is built under the development concept of focusing primarily on academic research and basic research, and secondly on application research. Issues including difficulties in identifying achievements and ranking still exist in the development of think tanks. Zhang Shourong, Vice President and Researcher of Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that although there are a large number of think tanks with an abundance of research results, the results and benefits have at the same time tended to lag, so it is important to adopt individualized demand customization to solve this issue in the future; According to Professor Mei Xinlin, former Secretary of the CPC Committee of Zhejiang University of Technology, due to the high degree of comparability of of Chinese university think tanks, a list ranking the top one hundred think tanks, compiled on a three-dimensional mode, will be released publicly in the near future. A realistic ranking list for Chinese comprehensive think tanks and global think tanks will be released in the future. According to Professor Wu Bo, President of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs Research Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University, think tanks are faced with issues such as “big interest, few channels, many theories, less data, adequate written instructions, and little influence” when being built, so the positioning for think tanks of universities should be confirmed first. According to Chen Ye, Vice President and Researcher of Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences, faced with weaknesses such as anbiguous positioning and an incomplete evaluation system, it is difficult for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to transition into a think tank.

Heads of relevant departments from various research institutions described in detail the specific work of building new-type think tanks in recent years. Yang Huijun and Zhang Jun, Director and Deputy Director of the Secretariat of Shanghai Academy, part-time researcher Yue Yiren and assistant researcher Chen Wenyan participated in this research.