China transforming into innovation powerhouse

China's sharpened focus on pursuing integrated advancements in technological and industrial innovation showcases its determination to translate scientific breakthroughs into real-world applications, and such a strategy will help it transform into a global innovation powerhouse and maintain its edge amid competition and uncertainties, experts and company executives said.

Highlighting that bridging the gap between laboratories and production lines is a key pillar of China's push for new quality productive forces, they said this emphasizes not only breakthroughs in frontier technologies, but also scientific achievements that fuel economic vitality.

As 2025 marks the last year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), the nation's emphasis on nurturing sectors such as 6G, quantum computing, robotics and artificial intelligence will also help it establish a beachhead in these future industries for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, they added.

President Xi Jinping underlined the need for Jiangsu province, one of China's economic powerhouses, to lead the integration of sci-tech and industrial innovation when he took part in a deliberation with his fellow lawmakers during the third session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, earlier this month.

According to China's 2025 Government Work Report, "We should pursue integrated advancements in technological and industrial innovation, press ahead with new industrialization, expand and strengthen advanced manufacturing, and vigorously develop modern services. This will enable us to build up the momentum of new growth drivers while upgrading and reviving traditional ones."

Pan Jiaofeng, a deputy to the 14th NPC and president of the Institutes of Science and Development, which is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said economically developed provinces such as Jiangsu should seize the opportunity from a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation.

"By relying on a solid industrial foundation, they should promote the renewal and upgrade of traditional industries, cultivate new momentum, take the lead in shaping new development advantages and drive more regions to catch up," he said.