Update on China's new deployment on tapping into new-quality productive forces
The Chinese leadership held a group study session on January 31 on the work of promoting high-quality development through fostering new-quality productive forces.
In this session, President Xi Jinping shared his understanding of new-quality productive forces （新质生产力）, a term he first proposed during an inspection tour in Heilongjiang Province last September, and emphasized the need to guide the pursuit of high-quality development with a new productivity theory.
The following is his definition of the term:
Broadly speaking, new productive forces are mainly driven by innovation, referring to a kind of advanced productivity that is freed from traditional economic growth mode and productivity development paths, features high-tech, high efficiency and high quality, and accords with the new development philosophy (Featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared growth).
(Xi's original words in Chinese) 概括地说，新质生产力是创新起主导作用，摆脱传统经济增长方式、生产力发展路径，具有高科技、高效能、高质量特征，符合新发展理念的先进生产力质态。
Driven by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading, new productive forces take the improvement of workers, means of labor, subjects of labor and their optimal combinations as its basic connotation, and a substantial increase in total factor productivity as its core hallmark, innovation as its feature, high quality as the key, and are advanced productivity in essence. Sci-tech innovation can generate new industries, new models and new growth drivers, which are the core elements of new productive forces.
它由技术革命性突破、生产要素创新性配置、产业深度转型升级而催生，以劳动者、劳动资料、劳动对象及其优化组合的跃升为基本内涵，以全要素生产率大幅提升为核心标志，特点是创新，关键在质优，本质是先进生产力。
To advance the work, the president called for making efforts mainly in five aspects:
Strengthening sci-tech innovation, especially original and disruptive innovation, accelerating the realization of high-level self-reliance in science and technology, and fighting hard for breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, so that original and disruptive sci-tech innovation can keep emerging for fostering new driving forces of new productive forces.
科技创新能够催生新产业、新模式、新动能，是发展新质生产力的核心要素。必须加强科技创新特别是原创性、颠覆性科技创新，加快实现高水平科技自立自强，打好关键核心技术攻坚战，使原创性、颠覆性科技创新成果竞相涌现，培育发展新质生产力的新动能。
Sci-tech innovations should be applied to specific industries and industrial chains in a timely manner. Efforts should be made to transform and upgrade traditional industries, foster emerging industries, make arrangements for future industries, and improve the modern industrial system.
要及时将科技创新成果应用到具体产业和产业链上，改造提升传统产业，培育壮大新兴产业，布局建设未来产业，完善现代化产业体系。
New productive forces are in itself green productive forces, and efforts should be made to expedite the green transformation of growth models and contribute to carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
绿色发展是高质量发展的底色，新质生产力本身就是绿色生产力。必须加快发展方式绿色转型，助力碳达峰碳中和。
Deepening reform in an all-round way and forming a new type of relations of production appropriate to the development of new productive forces. Reforms of the country’s economic system and science and technology management system needed to be advanced to remove bottlenecks that hinder the development of new productive forces, and establish a high-standard market system. Factors of production shall be allocated in an innovative manner to ensure the smooth flow of advanced and high-quality factors of production toward the making of new-quality productive forces. At the same time, China should open itself wider to the outside world at a high level and create a favorable international environment for developing new-quality productive forces.
发展新质生产力，必须进一步全面深化改革，形成与之相适应的新型生产关系。要深化经济体制、科技体制等改革，着力打通束缚新质生产力发展的堵点卡点，建立高标准市场体系，创新生产要素配置方式，让各类先进优质生产要素向发展新质生产力顺畅流动。同时，要扩大高水平对外开放，为发展新质生产力营造良好国际环境。
Facilitating the the virtuous cycle of education, science and technology as well as talents in accordance with the requirement of developing new productive forces, and improving the mechanism of talent training, introduction, use and flow.
要按照发展新质生产力要求，畅通教育、科技、人才的良性循环，完善人才培养、引进、使用、合理流动的工作机制。
Premier Li Qiang's inspection tour to Shaanxi Province
Ahead of the session, Chinese Premier Li Qiang made an inspection tour to northwestern China’s Shaanxi Province on Jan. 29-30. During his tour, he called for efforts to promote industrial innovation through sci- tech innovation and accelerate the cultivation of new productive forces.
He visited a few local technical firms, including Caihong Display Devices Company Limited, where he learned about new product development and production process innovation of glass substrate.
At a smart braking firm (陕西法士特智能制动系统有限公司), he was briefed about the operation of digital production lines. This is an intelligent braking manufacturer located in Xianyang City, known for building the country's first dark factory ( fully automated, with no required human labor) in the sector. By leveraging the Internet of Things, digital perception and data-driven technologies, the company took the lead in smart manufacturing, with its productivity up by 70 percent, energy consumption down by 14 percent and per capita output increased by more than five times.
At Western Superconducting Technologies Co., Ltd(西安西部超导材料科技股份有限公司), he held a symposium with the company's executives and encouraging the firm to promote technological development and continuously advance the transformation and industrial application of sci-tech achievements.
Future industries
Most Chinese provincial-level regions have set their 2024 gross domestic product (GDP) growth goals at above 5 percent, eyeing new industries and consumption as major growth boosters.
The 2024 GDP growth targets range from 4.5 to 8 percent for China's provincial-level regions, according to the government work reports delivered at the annual sessions of the local people's congresses.
Economic heavyweight province Guangdong aims to boost "new productive forces" in industries including integrated circuit, new energy storage and commercial spaceflight. It also plans to foster future industries such as 6G technology and humanoid robot.
A batch of incubators and pilot zones for the fostering of future industries should be built nationwide by 2025, while breakthroughs should be achieved in about a hundred core technologies in key fields, according to a guideline released on Jan. 29 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and six other ministries and agencies.
Future industries refer to new industries integrated with advanced technology, such as metaverse, humanoid robots, brain-computer interface and quantum information.
The guideline called for efforts to develop signature products, enrich application scenarios and optimize industrial supporting systems for future industries, with a particular focus on six key fields including manufacturing, information, materials, energy, space and health.
A catalog for promoting cutting-edge technologies should be published to propel the application of advanced technological achievements.
Last November, the ministry released another guideline aiming to establish a preliminary innovation system for humanoid robots by 2025 as part of the country's efforts to develop future industries.
Specifically speaking, a number of small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in the humanoid robot market and have cutting-edge technologies and two to three humanoid robot companies with global influence are expected to be in place by 2025.
By 2027, China will see a secure and reliable industrial and supply chain system, and related products will be deeply integrated into the real economy, the guideline said.