Chang Qinglin: How Northeast China Can Accelerate the Development of New Quality Productive Forces
Accelerating the development of new quality productive forces in the Northeast region is an inevitable choice for thoroughly implementing the strategic deployment to promote the full revitalization of the Northeast in the New Era and for assisting in Chinese-path modernization.
In September 2023, while presiding over a symposium on promoting the full revitalization of the Northeast in the New Era in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “We must actively cultivate strategic emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, advanced manufacturing, and electronic information; actively cultivate future industries; accelerate the formation of new quality productive forces; and enhance new driving forces for development.” In January 2025, during an inspection tour of Liaoning Province, General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: “Liaoning possesses a relatively complete industrial system; it is necessary to coordinate the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries with the cultivation and expansion of strategic emerging industries, and to accelerate the construction of a modernized industrial system.” He added: “The key to cultivating and expanding strategic emerging industries lies in strengthening the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, and developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions.” On February 8, 2025, while hearing a work report from the Jilin Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “We must hold firm to the foundation of the real economy, coordinately promote the transformation of traditional industries, the expansion of advantageous industries, and the cultivation of new quality productive forces to build a modernized industrial system that reflects the characteristics of Jilin.” The high degree of importance General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches to the development of new quality productive forces in the Northeast, along with his series of important instructions, has pointed the way forward and provided an action guide for the full revitalization and modernization of the Northeast in the New Era.
1. The Northeast region possesses a solid foundation for developing new quality productive forces
The Northeast region includes Liaoning Province, Jilin Province, Heilongjiang Province, and five leagues or cities [1] in the eastern part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with a land area of 1.45 million square kilometers and a population of approximately 110 million. It is an important industrial base and a major grain-producing area for our country, bringing together diverse regional characteristics such as being science-and-education intensive, industrially distinctive, energy-dependent, food-supplying, and defense-oriented along the borders. In recent years, the accelerated transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, the vigorous development of emerging industries, and the continuous improvement of scientific and technological innovation capabilities in the Northeast have laid a solid foundation for the region to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces.
The transformation and upgrading of traditional industries have progressed steadily. In the industrial sector, traditional manufacturing in the Northeast has actively undergone digital and intelligent restructuring, moving toward high-end and precision development. For example, the automotive industry base in Changchun has increased production efficiency and product quality by introducing advanced intelligent manufacturing technologies; petrochemical enterprises in Daqing have extended the industrial chain through technological innovation, producing more high-performance new chemical materials to meet market demand for high-end chemical products. In agriculture, the Northeast has fully leveraged its agricultural resource advantages to accelerate the process of agricultural modernization. For instance, the large-scale application of advanced technologies such as the agricultural Internet of Things (IoT), precision irrigation, and drone-based plant protection has significantly enhanced agricultural production efficiency.
Emerging industries are developing vigorously. Industries such as new energy, biomedicine, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data have become important engines for the development of new quality productive forces in the Northeast. Taking full advantage of rich wind and solar resources, the region has vigorously developed the wind power and photovoltaic industries, which not only provides clean energy for the region but also drives the development of related equipment manufacturing, forming a complete industrial chain. Cities like Changchun and Shenyang are actively cultivating biomedical enterprises and increasing investment in biomedical R&D, achieving a series of innovative results in biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. Cities like Harbin, Dalian, and Chifeng are actively constructing AI industrial parks, attracting numerous technology companies. These enterprises are carrying out innovative applications in fields such as intelligent transportation, intelligent manufacturing, and smart healthcare, injecting new vitality into the economic development of the Northeast.
Scientific and technological innovation capabilities are continuously improving. The Northeast possesses numerous universities and scientific research institutions, providing strong intellectual support for the development of new quality productive forces. For example, Jilin University and Harbin Institute of Technology cooperate with enterprises to jointly conduct research and development on key technologies, applying research results to actual production. The government has continuously increased investment in scientific and technological innovation, establishing special funds to support enterprises in technological innovation and R&D activities, building R&D centers, and improving independent innovation capabilities. The construction of scientific and technological innovation platforms is continuously improving, with various technology enterprise incubators and accelerators springing up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain [2], providing a favorable environment for innovative technology enterprises.
2. Challenges facing the Northeast in accelerating the development of new quality productive forces
For the revitalization of the Northeast, the gestation and development of new quality productive forces represent a major historical opportunity, and the region possesses the basic conditions for this development. However, at the same time, the Northeast still faces a series of challenges in R&D investment, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and synergistic development, which directly affect and restrict the formation and development of new quality productive forces.
R&D expenditure is insufficient, and the local transformation rate of scientific and technological achievements is low. In 2023, the total R&D investment of the three Northeast provinces was 111.59 billion yuan, equivalent to only 26.5% of the R&D investment of Jiangsu Province. The R&D intensity was approximately 1.74%, only 65% of the national average. Meanwhile, the local transformation rate of scientific and technological achievements is low. The 2021 China Patent Survey Report showed that the effective transformation rate of patent achievements in Liaoning's universities was only around 10%; although innovation achievements are abundant, both quality and transformation rates are low. In Heilongjiang Province, only 12 universities have technology transfer offices, accounting for a mere 15.3%. These issues with R&D investment and transformation restrict the formation and development of new quality productive forces.
The advantages of central state-owned enterprises (central SOEs) as "chain leaders" [3] are insufficiently leveraged, and the overall synergy in the Northeast is weak. Survey data indicates that the proportion of cooperative projects between central SOEs and local enterprises in the Northeast is relatively low compared to the total number of central SOE projects. Taking Harbin as an example, in the first half of 2024, central SOEs stationed in Harbin collaborated with local supporting enterprises on 111 items with a supporting value of approximately 2.37 billion yuan. Compared to mature models of central-local cooperation in other regions, the driving effect on the local industrial chain is not obvious. Data on business transactions between upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain shows that there is still a lack of business support and impetus from central SOEs for local enterprises. In the automotive manufacturing chain, for instance, central automotive SOEs in the Northeast have a local procurement rate of only about 40%, with a large volume of parts needing to be procured from other regions. This reflects significant room for improvement for central SOEs acting as "chain leaders" in promoting the linked development of local upstream and downstream enterprises.
The number of innovative enterprises and the concentration of innovative talent are relatively low, and the cultivation and leadership of the innovation ecosystem are lagging. For example, the number of national-level high-tech enterprises in the Northeast accounts for less than 5% of the national total, which is disproportionate to the region's industrial base. The role of "chain leader" enterprises in constructing innovation ecosystems and attracting innovative resources has not yet been fully manifested.
Furthermore, the Northeast has suffered from serious "brain drain" of high-end talent in recent years. There is still much room for improvement in policy, industrial, and innovation synergy. Especially in terms of industrial chain extension and inter-industry integration, there is a lack of effective connection and cooperation. A cluster effect and economies of scale have not yet formed, and the overall synergy for the full revitalization of the Northeast remains weak.
3. Measures to support the accelerated development of new quality productive forces in the Northeast
To support the rapid development of new quality productive forces in the Northeast in the New Era, we should base our efforts on accelerating the construction of a modernized industrial system. We must coordinate the transformation of traditional industries with the cultivation of strategic emerging industries, reinforce the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, and strengthen policy supply. We must transform the "key variable" of scientific and technological innovation into a "strong incremental factor" for full revitalization, achieving a transition from scientific and technological strength to industrial and economic strength.
Build scientific and technological innovation platforms that support industrial revitalization. We should focus on key fields and advantageous industries in the Northeast, such as high-end equipment, new materials, new energy, biomedicine, modern agriculture, and the ice-and-snow economy. The layout of national laboratories, national key laboratories, and national engineering technology research centers should tilt more toward the Northeast. This will facilitate the concentration of innovative talent and resources, enhance the capacity for major industrial technological innovation, and consolidate support for making the Northeast's advantageous industries bigger, stronger, and better. With Northeast industry as the center and university research as the pillar, we should construct an integrated mechanism for industry-university-research cooperation, increase the supply and implementation of cooperative projects, and establish a system where the returns from achievement transformation are fed back into R&D to form a virtuous cycle. We should build interconnected technology trading platforms and encourage universities, research institutes, and various social entities to establish professional technology transfer institutions that provide online and offline services for the transfer and transformation of scientific achievements based on the technical needs of enterprises. We must enhance "sci-tech finance" service capabilities, leveraging a comprehensive investment and financing system that combines technology credit, equity investment, debt financing, and intellectual property pledges. The role of government guidance funds in venture capital for technology should be fully utilized to comprehensively enhance the ability to transform high-tech achievements into enterprises and industries.
Strengthen the supply of special preferential talent policies. People are the most active and decisive factor in the productive forces. We should formulate a special talent plan for Northeast revitalization and policies to incentivize innovative talent, pushing for major national talent engineering and technology introduction projects to tilt toward the Northeast. For strategic scientists, we should provide support on a "case-by-case" basis and allocate resources through "one policy per person." For first-class scientific and technological leaders and innovation teams, we should actively implement the "unveiling the rankings" [4] and "horse racing" [5] systems to assemble teams for tackling key core technologies. For the young scientific "crack troops," we must improve the "full-chain" cultivation system from the "ivory tower" to the main battlefield of innovation and entrepreneurship, supporting them in taking the lead and playing the protagonist. For "outstanding engineers," special cultivation plans should be created to promote the joint construction and training between universities and enterprises. We must give full play to various scientific research projects to vigorously cultivate young, innovative, and leading scientific talents and teams, creating a professional stage that "pins the heart and keeps the person" [6]. We must improve and implement more preferential measures to support young talent in undertaking major R&D projects. We should strengthen the utilization of local talent while encouraging units to use joint research, project consultancy, and technical consultation to introduce urgently needed high-level scientific talent and teams.
Deepen the reform of "rights-granting" for ownership of scientific and technological achievements. Developing new quality productive forces requires institutional mechanisms as a guarantee. Currently, in Northeast universities and research institutes, there is still the problem of "having rights but no motivation" or "having motivation but no rights" regarding the transformation of service-related scientific achievements. We should take the lead in the Northeast in piloting reforms that grant ownership or long-term use rights of service-related achievements to researchers, implementing "partial" or even "full empowerment" to move achievements from the unit to the individual. We should grant greater autonomy to universities and research institutes in personnel management, income distribution, technical route decision-making, fund management, the disposal of proceeds from achievement transformation, and the procurement of equipment. We should summarize and promote the practices of pilot units involved in the reform of distribution policies oriented toward increasing the value of knowledge, allowing these institutions more autonomy in hiring, project establishment, achievement disposal, professional title evaluation, and salary distribution, thereby putting effort into optimizing the environment for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Leverage the "chain leader" functional advantages of central SOEs in the Northeast. We must improve the "chain leader" mechanism for central SOE industrial chains, integrating the creation of chain leaders into the reform system of state-owned assets and enterprises to provide industrial innovation support for the formation of new quality productive forces. Relying on the powerful research capabilities and capital of central SOEs—and combining the economic positioning and industrial strength of a large number of central SOEs in the Northeast, such as FAW Group, Harbin Electric Corporation, Dongfang Electric, and China First Heavy Industries—we should take the lead in building common industrial technology platforms. We must drive central SOEs to play a more active role in tackling key core technologies, cultivating innovation ecosystems, and achieving high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology, providing an innovative core for the growth of strategic emerging industries. Aiming at the direction of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, we should support central SOEs as the vanguard and organizers of industrial chains. We should clarify short-, medium-, and long-term tasks and strengthen forward-looking layouts in areas where the Northeast has advantages but requires massive investment, such as deep-sea and aerospace development, bio-manufacturing, and hydrogen energy/storage, to prepare reserves for the flourishing development of future industries.
Construct a regional investment coordination system for the Northeast. We should optimize the layout of productive forces in the Northeast and build a regional investment coordination system to guide the orderly flow, optimal combination, and efficient concentration of production factors over a wider range. From the overall perspective of the Northeast, we should deeply advance the "one axis" strategy of Harbin-Changchun-Shenyang-Dalian at the national level. Through policy, industrial, and innovation synergy, we can create a new situation for investment promotion and form an overall collective force for full revitalization. From the perspective of hub cities, we should build "sci-tech innovation corridors" centered on Harbin, Changchun, and Shenyang, establishing a synergistic development model of "research leadership + cluster driving + platform coordination + network innovation" to form an ecosystem where the innovation, industrial, talent, and capital chains are integrated. We should build a biopharmaceutical center based in Harbin, a new energy vehicle industry cluster centered on Changchun, a national advanced manufacturing base centered on Shenyang, a heavy shipbuilding industrial chain led by Dalian, and a demonstration zone for undertaking industrial transfers in eastern Inner Mongolia focused on Tongliao and Chifeng. Relying on Free Trade Zones and pilot zones, we should guide various localities to introduce non-public capital based on their advantageous industries, turning the Northeast into a base for our country's strategic emerging industries. For important node cities, we should promote satellite cities to achieve structural complementarity with central cities based on their respective advantages, supporting border areas in attracting private capital related to future industries such as hydrogen storage, wind/solar power, and digital energy. This will reduce redundant investment in major strategic R&D and accelerate the formation and development of new quality productive forces.
(Author: Chang Qinglin, Professor and Director of the Basic Theory Teaching and Research Department, Heilongjiang Institute of Socialism)