In a bid to promote the continuous high-level construction and high-quality development of university think tanks, the China Think Tank Research and Evaluation Center at Nanjing University released the List of Best Practices in Think Tank Construction and Outstanding Achievements in Think Tank Research, unveiling the CTTI 2025 Best Practices in Think Tank Construction and Outstanding Achievements in Think Tank Research. The 111 Center of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL) submitted the project Government-University Collaboration: Practical Exploration of New Think Tank Services for Income Distribution, which was awarded the CTTI 2025 Outstanding Think Tank Development Case. The project Challenges and Recommendations for the Socialized Operation and Development of Elderly Education won the First Prize of CTTI 2025 Outstanding Achievements in Think Tank Research, while the project On the Fourth Distribution won the Second Prize of CTTI 2025 Outstanding Achievements in Think Tank Research. Since 2016, the 111 Center has been selected for several consecutive years as a Best Practice in Think Tank Construction in the annual Chinese Think Tank Index (CTTI) and has won the awards for Outstanding Research Achievements of Think Tanks. It continues to demonstrate the think tank's commitment and practical effectiveness in serving the country's major strategic needs.
The China Think Tank Index (CTTI) is a think tank system for vertical search, data management, and online evaluation, jointly developed and promoted by Nanjing University and Guangming Daily. Leveraging China's institutional advantages and independent innovation that highlights Chinese discourse, the CTTI enjoys independent intellectual property in areas such as design philosophy, functional layout, data collection mechanisms, and evaluation mechanisms. The CTTI Best Practices in Think Tank Construction and the Promotion Awards for Outstanding Research Achievements of Think Tanks are held annually and have become an important benchmark for measuring the influence and social contributions of think tanks in China. For the 2025 awards, a total of 367 construction cases were submitted from 367 institutions, along with 1,014 research achievements from 622 institutions. Following a rigorous preliminary review and a detailed final evaluation by an expert committee, 207 cases were selected for the list of Best Practices in Think Tank Construction, while 591 achievements were included in the list of Outstanding Achievements in Think Tank Research.
The project Government-University Collaboration: Practical Exploration of New Think Tank Services for Income Distribution, which was awarded the CTTI 2025 Outstanding Think Tank Development Case, is a government-university collaboration project between ZUEL, the Comprehensive Department of the Ministry of Finance, and the Department of Employment, Income Distribution and Consumption of the National Development and Reform Commission. It focuses on the frontier of income distribution reform and actively provides intellectual support for the 15th Five-Year Plan. The construction of this think tank has achieved three major outcomes to date: First, its policy influence has been significantly strengthened. Through the two-way embedding of talent, core researchers from the 111 Center are deeply involved in the work of government ministries and commissions. Several reports by the researchers have received directives or been adopted by the central leadership, and have been used as important references for the income distribution and social security chapters in the 15th Five-Year Plan. Second, the think tank's capabilities have undergone a systematic leap. The team's research has evolved from a single-disciplinary analysis to interdisciplinary integration, with topics closely aligned with the priorities of the 15th Five-Year Plan. The methods now focus more on empirical research and simulation, and the outcomes are diverse, truly serving the country's major strategic needs. Third, a cross-ministerial collaborative demonstration effect has been formed. The same university think tank provides high-quality services to two core economic governance departments, the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission, setting a model for universities nationwide.
The 111 Center has been selected for the CTTI 2025 Outstanding Think Tank Development Cases and won two awards for Outstanding Research Achievements of Think Tanks. This recognition is not only a high acknowledgment of the research level and think tank achievements of the 111 Center by both academia and industry, but also a strong incentive for its future development. Looking towards the critical period of the 15th Five-Year Plan and the new journey of Chinese-style modernization, the 111 Center will focus on the new demands for fairness and efficiency in national governance modernization. It will further strengthen a problem-oriented approach and interdisciplinary integration and intensively develop the "fiscal-distribution-governance" integrated research paradigm. In the future, the 111 Center will continue to produce landmark achievements that combine academic depth with policy value. With the aim of "serving national strategies, responding to societal concerns, and leading disciplinary development," the 111 Center is dedicated to building a new type of high-end think tank that integrates academic originality, policy influence, and international dialogue. It aims to provide solid intellectual support for promoting common prosperity and high-quality development.