Cao Wenhong: Promoting the Accelerated Development of New Quality Productive Forces through Deep Industrial Transformation and Upgrading
The deep transformation and upgrading of industry is one of the key forms of developing new quality productive forces. Generally speaking, deep transformation and upgrading of industry refers to promoting the optimization of industrial structures through improvements in technology, markets, and management, making them more conducive to economic and social development. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into actual productive forces manifests as the spawning of new industries and the promotion of deep industrial transformation and upgrading. To accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, we must take deep industrial transformation and upgrading as the primary direction of attack. This requires the integrated deployment of industrial innovation chains, industrial development chains, and industrial talent chains. Based on a modernized industrial system, we must develop more pillar industries and, by creating complete and robust industrial chains, guide the flow of factors of production toward the development of new quality productive forces. This will promote a state of mutual reinforcement and "resonance at the same frequency" [1] between deep industrial transformation and upgrading and the cultivation of new quality productive forces.
Currently, traditional industries still account for a large proportion of China's industrial layout and remain the "bedrock" [2] of our economy. They face various degrees of structural problems, such as distorted price factors, being "locked in" at the low end of the value chain, and serious environmental pollution. The key to promoting deep industrial transformation and upgrading lies in properly handling the relationship between emerging and traditional industries. We must consider the resource endowments and other supporting conditions of various regions to formulate differentiated development paths. Simultaneously, based on the characteristics of production factors, we must promote the joint development of traditional and emerging industries to avoid the problem of insufficient factor input that can occur during the deep transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Developing new quality productive forces does not mean neglecting or abandoning traditional industries. We must prevent a 'rush to action' [3] or the creation of bubbles, and we must not engage in a single model." Deep industrial transformation and upgrading not only effectively avoids the waste of resources caused by blindly pushing emerging industry projects but also greatly expands the development space for traditional industries. This enhances the multiplier effect between emerging and traditional industries, pointing the way for us to identify the correct path, implement targeted policies, and accelerate the development of new quality productive forces.
I
Developing new quality productive forces does not refer specifically to one or several specific fields of science and technology; rather, it refers to social activities that increase the technological added value per unit of product based on scientific and technological progress. Scientific and technological innovation is the core element for developing new quality productive forces. Characterized by innovation and marked by a substantial increase in total factor productivity, new quality productive forces feature high technology, high efficiency, and high quality. For new quality productive forces to be transformed into a realistic driver of social progress, we must promote the deep transformation and upgrading of industry at the opportune time. Through comprehensive upgrading and transformation, we can inject technological momentum into industrial development. By shaping a social-wide innovation vitality through industrial forms integrated from diverse technological elements, we can accumulate more new kinetic energy to drive new quality productive forces.
Transforming and upgrading traditional industries to stimulate momentum for new industries. China's traditional industries are characterized by their large scale, wide coverage, and complete industrial chains, playing a vital role in national economic construction. However, they also face explicit problems such as being "large but not strong" or "strong but not refined." Traditional industries often lack "stamina" [4] in an increasingly competitive domestic and international environment. To accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, we must solidly promote the deep transformation and upgrading of traditional industries to stimulate their new momentum. On one hand, we must emphasize the use of new technologies. Because their production models are relatively fixed and price elasticity is small, traditional industries are not as sensitive to the application and promotion of new technologies as strategic emerging industries and future industries. Promoting deep industrial transformation and upgrading should highlight the leading role of new technologies in improving production efficiency, utilizing technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data to reshape industrial models. On the other hand, we must accelerate the green transition of traditional industries. Green development has become a strategic choice for traditional industries to enhance competitiveness and cultivate new momentum. We must actively promote energy conservation and carbon reduction, adopt clean and renewable energy, effectively reduce the energy consumption ratio of traditional industries, increase industrial added value, and guide traditional industries toward green development.
Promoting multi-industry synergistic development to empower new quality productive forces. Developing new quality productive forces is a systemic project requiring coordination and cooperation across various industries and fields. Deep industrial transformation and upgrading are closely related to the deep integration of various industries; without a systematically complete industrial coordination, it is difficult to promote deep transformation and upgrading. Currently, China's industrial layout and business forms are diverse, comprising traditional and emerging industries as well as "weak link" industries [5] and "advantageous" industries. The diversity and complementarity of industrial forms dictate that it is difficult for any single industry to achieve leapfrog development on its own. Promoting the deep coupling and synergistic development of multiple industries has become an important force leading the transformation of new quality productive forces. On one hand, we should integrate advantageous resources from the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, promote in-depth cooperation, build open data-sharing networks, and enhance the efficient docking and coordination of information, technology, and capital flows across all links of the industrial chain to improve the response speed of the entire chain. On the other hand, we must establish and improve enterprise coordination mechanisms, strengthen the consciousness of independent innovation, and shape a pattern of collaborative innovation among enterprises. We should encourage enterprises to deploy innovation chains around industrial chains and guide them to continuously optimize industrial cooperation models according to national construction strategies. We must be brave enough to seize the "commanding heights" [6] of technology-intensive and capital-intensive industries while also focusing on key areas and weak links in the industrial chain, constructing bridges for the flow of production factors among diverse market entities to accelerate the integration and development of multiple industries.
II
Accelerating the development of new quality productive forces is both a developmental proposition and a reform proposition. We must further and comprehensively deepen reform and improve the systems and mechanisms for developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions. Deepening reforms in various fields requires focusing more closely on "what it is, what to reform, and how to reform." We must adhere to a problem-oriented approach, focusing on key areas and concentrating precious strategic resources on improving institutional efficiency and stimulating innovation vitality. The key to promoting deep industrial transformation and upgrading lies in breaking through the "bottlenecks" and "obstruction points" [7] that restrict the flow of production factors, using the construction of a complete and robust industrial institutional system as a starting point to empower the building of mechanisms for new quality productive forces.
Meeting the needs of deep industrial transformation and upgrading by strengthening institutional supply for new fields and new arenas. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must actively cultivate strategic emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, advanced manufacturing, and electronic information, and actively cultivate future industries to accelerate the formation of new quality productive forces and enhance new momentum for development." Strategic emerging industries and future industries are the main battlefields for developing new quality productive forces due to their knowledge-and-technology intensity, great growth potential, and high comprehensive benefits. However, they represent two different industrial forms: strategic emerging industries are new economic industrial forms that emerge following breakthroughs in scientific research applications, whereas future industries are industrial forms in their embryonic or incubation stages with great market potential. For strategic emerging industries, we should focus on the supporting role of existing advantages, improving industrial policies and governance systems that promote the development of information technology, artificial intelligence, aerospace, new energy, and new materials to guide their healthy development. For future industries, we must strive to build a policy support system, encouraging enterprises to boldly explore and engage in "pioneer trial and error." We must respect market laws and the autonomous role of enterprises, supporting various regions in establishing future industry experimental pilot zones according to local conditions, and releasing the potential of future industries through financial support, government procurement, and the issuance of qualifications.
Strengthening the top-level design for deep industrial transformation and upgrading to build a complete industrial development policy system. Deep industrial transformation and upgrading involve many contents and wide-ranging fields; various factors should be considered comprehensively, which requires strengthening top-level design. First, we must accelerate the improvement of the new-type whole-nation system [8] to aggregate the forces of industrial and technological innovation. We must strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over the promotion of deep industrial transformation and upgrading, giving full play to the socialist advantage of "concentrating resources to accomplish great tasks." We must organize scientific research forces and enterprise groups to conduct precise assessments of industrial transformation and upgrading and formulate feasible decision-making plans. Guided by the market, we must promote the timely application of innovation achievements to the market, forming a virtuous cycle between industrial and entrepreneurial chains. Second, we should optimize the spatial layout of industry and establish a national unified large market. We must implement a national unified system for property rights protection, market access, and fair competition, smoothing the mechanism for factor flow to ensure that industries can achieve an orderly transfer between regions nationwide. Third, we must create a transparent and predictable policy environment. Macro-industrial policies should remain stable, meso-industrial policies should provide continuous momentum, and micro-industrial policies should be active and effective. We must strengthen the construction of the rule of law, reinforce positive market expectations, and strive to achieve coordination and synergy among different industrial policies within an open, transparent, and robust market environment.
(Author: Cao Wenhong, Specially Appointed Researcher at the Fujian Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and Dean of the School of Marxism, Huaqiao University)
Source: Guangming Daily (January 27, 2025, Page 06) Web Editor: Huihui