diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 47d3f1f0..183ba397 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ on:
     branches:
     - master
     - "3.0"
-    - "2.16"
+    - "2.17"
     paths-ignore:
     - "README.md"
     - "release-notes/*"
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ on:
     branches:
     - master
     - "3.0"
-    - "2.16"
+    - "2.17"
     paths-ignore:
     - "README.md"
     - "release-notes/*"
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d0e59aa3..262f170f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -10,13 +10,13 @@
     <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson</groupId>
     <!-- this is one of few Jackson modules that depends on parent and NOT jackson-bom -->
     <artifactId>jackson-parent</artifactId>
-    <version>2.16</version>
+    <version>2.17-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
   <artifactId>jackson-annotations</artifactId>
   <name>Jackson-annotations</name>
-  <version>2.16.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>2.17.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <description>Core annotations used for value types, used by Jackson data binding package.
   </description>
diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
index 0aef83e6..3dbdcdde 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ NOTE: Annotations module will never contain changes in patch versions,
 === Releases ===
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+2.17.0 (not yet released)
+
+-
+
 2.16.0 (15-Nov-2023)
 
 #223: Add new `OptBoolean` valued property in `@JsonTypeInfo` to allow