Wang Yiming: New Quality Productive Forces, How to Grow in Practice
New quality productive forces [1] are a completely new and vivid concept. What are new quality productive forces? Why must we develop them? How should they be developed? Answering these questions requires observing and grasping the concept from a grander perspective.
Every technological revolution in the history of human development has brought about a "qualitative" leap in the productive forces. Currently, a new round of technological revolution is developing rapidly, manifesting a trend of cross-disciplinary integration and multi-point breakthroughs centered on artificial intelligence (AI) and intersecting with quantum technology, life sciences, and other fields. As big data, large-scale models, and massive computing power accelerate technological breakthroughs, AI has become the frontier leading technological innovation. Meanwhile, fields such as quantum computing, quantum communication, genomics, and brain-computer interfaces are also gestating major new technological transformations. These original and disruptive innovations are giving rise to new industries, new models, and new forms of business, bringing about profound "qualitative" changes in the productive forces.
At present, China's economy has transitioned to a stage of high-quality development. The old ways of combining production functions are no longer sustainable. It is no longer possible to drive economic growth primarily through factor inputs as was done during the high-speed growth stage; instead, we must shift toward a greater reliance on technological innovation and the improvement of total factor productivity (TFP). Faced with the deepening development of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, China must both break away from the productive force development path of extensive expansion and low-efficiency development under traditional growth models, and expand the space for the development of advanced productive forces. Only by taking technological innovation as the core and cultivating and developing new quality productive forces can we open new paths and inject new momentum into high-quality development.
In recent years, China's technological innovation has yielded fruitful results, progress has been made in innovation-driven development, the effects of the green and low-carbon transition have become apparent, and the pace of transforming the development model has accelerated. New quality productive forces have already been germinating and growing in China's practice of promoting high-quality development, demonstrating strong driving and supporting force for high-quality development.
It can be said that developing new quality productive forces is a proactive move to transform and promote the high-quality development of the Chinese economy; it is also an inevitable choice to gain strategic initiative in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation.
Since 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping has systematically expounded on new quality productive forces on several occasions. This represents a major development and innovation of Marxist productive force theory, serving as the fundamental compliance and guide to action for cultivating new quality productive forces and promoting high-quality development on the new journey of the New Era.
In summary, new quality productive forces are those where innovation plays the leading role. They break away from traditional economic growth models and productive force development paths. They are characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality. Their hallmark is innovation, their key lies in superior quality, and their essence is advanced productive forces.
Specifically, new quality productive forces are birthed by the following transformations:
Revolutionary breakthroughs in technology. Unlike previous technological revolutions that primarily replaced manual labor, the new round of technological revolution, characterized by intelligence, will not only replace manual labor but also realize the replacement of mental labor and the extension of human intelligence. For example, the deep integration of intelligent technology and manufacturing—through advanced sensing, digital design and manufacturing, robotics, and intelligent control systems—is giving rise to man-machine integrated intelligent manufacturing models. This achieves dynamic perception, interconnection, data integration, and intelligent control across all elements and links of the manufacturing process, accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces.
Innovative allocation of production factors. The rapid development of digital technology has made data a new type of production factor. Compared to traditional factors, data possesses high mobility, low replication costs, and increasing returns. When data participates in the allocation of production factors, it can significantly enhance production efficiency, thereby forming new quality productive forces. For instance, by collecting data on a large scale and analyzing it, suppliers can more clearly perceive the direction, target, content, and quantity of demand, achieving more efficient output without increasing traditional factor inputs. It can be said that the addition of the data factor to the allocation of production factors has created more and better productive force output.
Deep industrial transformation and upgrading. The automobile has a history of two or three hundred years, and Western countries have deep technical accumulations in the field of traditional internal combustion vehicles. However, this has changed dramatically in the era of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs). In 2024, China's production and sales of NEVs exceeded 10 million units for the first time. Relying on the empowerment of technological innovation, China's NEVs have emerged as a new force in global competition. China's "lane-change overtaking" [2] in the NEV field is precisely the result of deep industrial transformation and upgrading giving birth to new quality productive forces.
The development of new quality productive forces cannot be a "rush headlong into action" [3] or lead to "bubble-ization." We must act according to local conditions, developing based on local industrial foundations, scientific and technological conditions, and innovation capacities. We must not engage in oversimplification, a "one-size-fits-all" approach [4], or follow a single model. We must avoid certain cognitive misunderstandings and handle several key relationships correctly:
First, the relationship between technological innovation and the transformation of scientific achievements. Technological innovation is the core element of developing new quality productive forces. From the perspective of the laws of innovation, to transform scientific achievements into actual productive forces, we must value not only "0 to 1" original and disruptive innovation but also "1 to 100" and "100 to N" transformation of achievements. We must exert force simultaneously on both innovation and transformation. On one hand, we should encourage more original and disruptive technological innovation; on the other, we must leverage China's advantages—an ultra-large-scale market, a complete industrial system, and rich application scenarios—to bridge the gap between technological innovation and industrial supply and demand, facilitating the transformation of more scientific achievements into actual productive forces.
Second, the relationship between developing emerging industries and upgrading traditional industries. Developing new quality productive forces requires cultivating emerging industries and forward-looking layouts for future industries, but we must never neglect the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. In fact, traditional industries are not necessarily backward industries. Through digital transformation and intelligent upgrading, traditional industries can likewise radiate new quality productive forces. China's traditional industries are large in scale and widely distributed, accounting for over 80% of manufacturing; they are the bedrock of our real economy. In recent years, the deep integration of digital technology with traditional industries and the birth of new application scenarios for intelligent manufacturing through "5G + Industrial Internet" have seen traditional industries radiating new vigor and vitality.
Third, the relationship between government guidance and the role of market mechanisms. Developing new quality productive forces requires government planning and promotion, but this does not mean using administrative power to directly allocate resources. Past experience shows that direct government allocation often leads to everyone "rushing headlong into action," resulting in resource misallocation, redundant construction, and overcapacity. Because emerging and future industries have high technological content, fast iterations, and large capital requirements, redundant construction in these areas would lead to even greater resource waste. Therefore, the government must shift from its past reliance on administrative power to seize factor supplies and project construction toward cultivating a healthy innovation ecosystem. Practice has proven that the innovation ecosystem is more important than innovation resources. Since resources are mobile, a good ecosystem will ensure that innovation resources keep gathering, allowing innovation potential to fully burst forth and transform into new quality productive forces.
Fourth, the relationship between technological innovation, industrial innovation, and financial support. To develop new quality productive forces, the financial system must undergo adaptive adjustments and construct a multi-level system to support technological innovation. First, we must vigorously develop multi-level capital markets, encouraging more social capital to participate in venture capital, equity investment, and angel investment funds to meet the funding needs of tech enterprises at different stages of their life cycles. Second, we must explore new models of credit financing to support tech innovation, expanding the space for banks to directly participate in equity investment and releasing the capacity of the banking system to support innovation. Third, we must improve the level of financial support for tech innovation by using technologies like blockchain, big data, and AI to promote the digitalization of financial institutions and online products, reducing the implicit costs and risks for tech enterprises seeking financial services.
Fifth, the relationship between developing new quality productive forces and adjusting the relations of production. Developing new quality productive forces is not just about technological innovation; institutional innovation is equally important. We must further deepen reform to form new relations of production that are compatible with these forces. The development of new quality productive forces is dynamic, and reform must advance with the times. Following the requirement that "development sets the questions, and reform provides the answers," we must unswervingly deepen reform around the bottlenecks and sticking points [5] that constrain the development of new quality productive forces.
Sixth, the relationship between cultivating high-level innovative talent and improving the quality of the workforce. Developing new quality productive forces ultimately depends on high-level innovative talent. There is an urgent need to cultivate a large number of strategic scientists, leading technological talents, young scientific talents, and high-level innovation teams of international standing. Furthermore, the development of new quality productive forces cannot be achieved without a general improvement in the quality of the workforce. We must accelerate the cultivation of a new type of workforce, such as "intelligent laborers," increase the popularization of digital knowledge and skills across society, and use diversified talent cultivation models to enhance the vocational skills of intelligent laborers, providing strong human capital support for the development of new quality productive forces.
"Developing new quality productive forces is an intrinsic requirement and an important focus for promoting high-quality development." Currently, China's process of promoting high-quality development has formed a historic intersection with the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. At this important historical juncture, General Secretary Xi Jinping has creatively proposed the development of new quality productive forces, emphasizing the use of new productive force theory to guide the practice of high-quality development. This provides the orientation and direction for promoting high-quality development at a time when the world undergoes accelerated changes unseen in a century and China embarks on a new journey to comprehensively build a modern socialist country. We must study and grasp this deeply and translate it into vivid practice for promoting the development of new quality productive forces.
(Wang Yiming, Vice Chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges) Source: People's Daily (December 30, 2024, Page 10)