The predecessor of the Industrial Economics Research Institute of Jinan University was the Industrial Economics Research Institute of Jinan University, which was established in 1994 with the Industrial Economics major led by the renowned Chinese economist Professor Huang Dehong. In 1997, the Industrial Economics Research Institute was officially reorganized into a research institute with the approval of the State Council Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. In 1998, Jinan University reached an agreement with the Guangdong Provincial Economic and Trade Commission to jointly establish the Industrial Economics Research Institute.