Leading the construction of a modern industrial system through technological innovation

The Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year systematically deployed the economic work for 2024, proposing nine key tasks centered on promoting high-quality development. Among them, "Leading the construction of a modern industrial system with technological innovation" ranks first. This is a strategic choice to seize the opportunities of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and an inevitable move to help China gain strategic initiative in future development and international competition. We must focus on economic construction as the central task and high-quality development as the primary task, promote the deep integration of technological innovation and the real economy, accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, advance industrial intelligence, greening, and integration, lay a solid foundation for accelerating the construction of a new development pattern, and continuously enhance the security and initiative of development.

Accelerate the formation and development of new quality productive forces supported by technological innovation

The development of productive forces is the fundamental driving force for human social progress and the fundamental strength for achieving long-term stable macroeconomic development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Technological innovation can give rise to new industries, new models, and new momentum, and is the core element for developing new quality productive forces." The Central Economic Work Conference proposed: "We must promote industrial innovation through technological innovation, especially by using disruptive and cutting-edge technologies to spawn new industries, new models, and new momentum, developing new quality productive forces." This is an innovation and development of Marxist productive forces theory, providing fundamental guidance for us to build a modern industrial system in practice. The key to forming and developing new quality productive forces lies in taking technological innovation as the core driving force, and through the leap in the combination of laborers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimization, to spawn new industries, new business forms, and new models, continuously shaping new momentum and new advantages for development.

Adhere to the principle that technology is the primary productive force and focus on the transformation of technological innovation achievements. Technological self-reliance and self-strengthening are the foundation of national strength and security, and are essential for forming and developing new quality productive forces. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has insisted on taking technological self-reliance and self-strengthening as the strategic support for national development, continuously strengthening basic research and original innovation. Breakthroughs have been made in some key core technologies, and China has entered the ranks of innovative countries. However, it should also be noted that China still lags behind developed countries in the "four basics" of industry, namely key basic materials, core basic components (electronic components), advanced basic processes, and industrial technology foundations. We must focus on the current situation, emphasize the transformation of technological innovation achievements, fill the technical gaps in the "four basics" of industry, strengthen the technological advantages in infrastructure construction, mobile payments, digital economy, and other fields, and pay attention to the development of general technologies represented by artificial intelligence, providing feasible solutions for creating a good innovation ecosystem and achieving independent and controllable key core technologies. At the same time, we must look to the long term, emphasize research and exploration of applied technologies, strengthen the foresight, strategic, and systematic layout of applied basic research and frontier research, grasp the major trends of global scientific and technological development, and make the "first move" in the forward-looking research and development of future industries.

Adhere to the principle that talent is the primary resource and build a new type of workforce. In today's world, the competition of comprehensive national strength ultimately boils down to the competition of talent and the quality of the workforce. Forming and developing new quality productive forces requires building a new type of workforce, including strategic talents who can create new quality productive forces and applied talents who can skillfully master new quality means of production. We must optimize the discipline settings and talent training models of higher education institutions according to new trends in technological development, cultivating urgently needed talents for developing new quality productive forces and promoting high-quality development. Improve the talent evaluation and incentive system, and create a favorable environment for the growth and development of new types of workers. Accelerate the construction of a large workforce of knowledge-based, skilled, and innovative workers to provide strong support for the formation and development of new industries, new business forms, and new models.

Adhere to the principle that innovation is the primary driving force and stimulate the development potential of industrial transformation and upgrading. Innovation occupies a core position in China's modernization construction overall situation. Only by promoting comprehensive innovation centered on technological innovation can we better grasp the timing and momentum of development and achieve "promoting stability through progress" in forming and developing new quality productive forces. We must adhere to the orientation of industrializing technological innovation achievements, support the cultivation of key industrial sectors that help China reshape new advantages in international cooperation and competition and enhance its position in the global industrial chain, build a batch of strategic emerging industry growth engines with distinctive features, complementary advantages, and reasonable structures, and develop several strategic emerging industries such as biomanufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy. We should lay out future industries such as quantum and life sciences in advance to open new fields and new tracks to support medium- and long-term economic growth. At the same time, relying on China's strong production capacity advantage, promote the transformation and upgrading and cluster development of traditional industries, creating effective demand through high-quality supply.

Promote industrial intelligence, greening, and integration with new quality productive forces

New quality productive forces are an advanced quality state of productive forces born from revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading. They are the key force driving the construction of a modern industrial system. In the new era, China has successively introduced a series of development plans to promote new industrialization, cultivate and strengthen strategic emerging industries, achieve breakthroughs in some key core technologies, and some fields are shifting from following to running alongside or even leading. Advanced and applicable technologies such as digital intelligence and green technology have become important forces for China to actively adapt to and lead a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. Facing new situations and tasks, we must adhere to intelligent manufacturing as the main direction for building a manufacturing power, accelerate the promotion of industrial intelligence, greening, and integration, build a modern industrial system with integrity, advancement, and security, continuously consolidate the industrial foundation of the new development pattern, and provide strong support for comprehensively building a socialist modern country.

Promote the deep integration of digital intelligence technology and the real economy, seizing the global high ground of industrial system intelligence. This is an inevitable requirement to grasp the wave of new technological revolutions such as artificial intelligence and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system supported by the real economy. Digital intelligence technology not only includes digital technology centered on data elements but also a series of intelligent technologies related to the development of the real economy. We must use digital technology to further promote the organic combination of various production factors, use intelligent technology to continuously improve total factor productivity and the potential growth rate of the economy, play a greater role in stimulating the vitality of various production factors, reducing costs and increasing efficiency for enterprises, integrating and consolidating resources in the industrial chain, and optimizing and upgrading industrial structure, focusing on solving the problem of supply and demand mismatch in promoting high-quality development in China, and promote quality, efficiency, and momentum transformations in economic development.

Promote the deep integration of green technology and industrialization, forming a green development model for the industrial system. Green development is the fundamental tone of high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Accelerate green technological innovation and the promotion and application of advanced green technologies, strengthen green manufacturing, develop green services, expand the green energy industry, develop green low-carbon industries and supply chains, and build a green low-carbon circular economy system." We must actively and steadily promote green and low-carbon development in industry, thoroughly implement the carbon peak implementation plan in the industrial sector, promote energy greening and resource intensive utilization, improve the total energy consumption and intensity control, gradually shift to a dual control system of carbon emission total volume and intensity, actively cultivate new momentum for green growth, and achieve greater economic and social development benefits with lower production costs.

Promote deep integration of industries to achieve a development pattern of integrated industrial systems. Integration is an inevitable requirement to enhance the overall efficiency of the industrial system. Promoting high-level coordinated coupling among the three industries, between large, medium, and small enterprises, and among upstream, midstream, and downstream enterprises is conducive to achieving a high-level dynamic balance of supply and demand in industrial development, upgrading the industrial chain to a high-end level, ensuring smooth industrial economic circulation, forming a good industrial ecosystem, and better releasing the comprehensive benefits of the industrial network. Vigorously promote the integrated cluster development of strategic emerging industries, achieving the integration and aggregation of innovation resources and the growth of technological strength through deep integration, forming an industrial development pattern characterized by refined division of labor and collaborative cooperation. Actively promote the deep integration of modern service industries with advanced manufacturing, through full lifecycle management, supply chain management, and systematic management process reengineering, continuously strengthening the important role of productive services in developing and expanding the real economy, and promoting the extension of China's manufacturing development toward the high end of the value chain.

Provide strong support for building a modern industrial system

Building a modern industrial system requires not only adhering to the path of new industrialization with Chinese characteristics and accelerating the formation and development of new quality productive forces, but also promoting the formation of production relations that correspond to them. Accelerate the improvement of the new national system, give full play to the government's strategic guidance role, enable enterprises to truly become the main body of innovation, gather various innovation elements such as talent and capital toward enterprises, effectively solve various contradictions and problems encountered in the process of building a modern industrial system, and provide strong support for China's coordinated high-quality development, high-level security, and steady and long-term economic development.

Strengthen key core technology breakthroughs and strategic resource support. The key to building a modern industrial system lies in promoting better integration of the innovation system and the industrial system. In terms of scientific and technological innovation, it is necessary to coordinate the advancement of science, education, and talent work, guided by major goals and development plans, forming an overall R&D framework deeply integrating government, industry, academia, research, and application. Optimize the allocation of innovation resources of national strategic scientific and technological forces, including national research institutions, high-level research universities, and leading technology enterprises, to achieve integrated design and effective connection of original innovation, integrated innovation, and open innovation, better stimulate new scientific and technological potential, identify key points in education, and cultivate a new force of talent. In terms of industrial development, accelerate the formation of a virtuous cycle of "technology-industry-finance," encourage the development of venture capital and equity investment, promote the transformation and industrialization of scientific and technological innovation achievements, and better realize the precise docking of the financial chain with the innovation chain and industrial chain.

Focus on promoting smooth circulation of the national economy. Coordinating the main role of the domestic large cycle and the mutual promotion of domestic and international dual cycles is an important condition for fully utilizing various production factors and an important support for the development of strategic emerging industries and future industries. Accelerate the construction of a unified national market, fully leverage the advantages of a super-large-scale market and strong production capacity, gather resources, release domestic demand, promote growth, stimulate innovation, accelerate the cultivation of leading enterprises in the chain and key node control enterprises, and while promoting China to achieve a higher level of dynamic supply and demand balance, form the capability to control core technologies independently and controllably. Continuously deepen high-level opening-up, expand the scope of international economic and trade cooperation, promote international capacity cooperation, introduce advanced international technologies, and while continuously improving the quality and level of international circulation, build a regulatory and risk prevention system matching high-level opening-up, ensuring the new development pattern with a new security pattern.

Effectively strengthen quality support and standard guidance. Strengthening construction in metrology, standards, certification, and accreditation plays an important role in forming reasonable innovation returns and improving scientific and technological incentives. It is necessary to fully recognize the important role of quality support and standard guidance in the healthy development of industries, vigorously develop group standards for emerging industries and productive services, form institutional functions that extend the industrial chain, enhance the value chain, and improve the supply chain, increase the supply of mid-to-high-end products and services, and improve the integrity, advancement, and safety of the industrial system. Focus on important industries, key products, and services in which China has a technological leadership advantage, promote international quality cooperation with countries and regions jointly building the "Belt and Road," major trading countries and regions, promote interconnection and sharing of quality infrastructure, move from "introducing" advanced standards to "exporting" Chinese standards, enhance the industrial concentration and market reputation of "Made in China," and consolidate and enhance China's position in the global industrial chain, supply chain, and innovation chain.