Gu Naihua: Strengthening the Real Economy to Build a Solid Foundation for Development During the 15th Five-Year Plan Period
The "15th Five-Year Plan" period [1] is a critical stage for China to consolidate its foundation and exert full force in basically achieving socialist modernization. The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Outline) makes comprehensive arrangements for economic and social development. Among these, it explicitly proposes to "build a modern industrial system and consolidate and strengthen the foundation of the real economy," planning and promoting this systematically as an independent chapter. This fully reflects the profound strategic considerations of the Party and the state regarding economic and social development. In the past, supported by a powerful real economy, our Party led the people in creating the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability, both of which are rare in world history. Looking to the future, we must persist in placing the focus of economic development on the real economy, constructing a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone, and solidifying the "ballast stone" [2] of economic and social development.
Strengthening the Real Economy through the Construction of a Modern Industrial System
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "The real economy is the foundation of a nation's economy, the ultimate source of wealth creation, and an important pillar of national strength." Industry is the core support of the real economy. Facing the contemporary tide of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, consolidating and strengthening the real economy must rely on a modern industrial system. In this context, the Outline provides a more systematic exposition on how to solidify the basic parameters of the Chinese economy, offering developmental guidance for building a modern industrial system and strengthening the real economy.
First, the target positioning is more strategic. The construction of a modern industrial system is a process of advancing with the times. The essence of upgrading an industrial system is the coordinated evolution of improved industrial resilience and industrial competitiveness. This process requires the industrial system to possess the pressure-resistant capability to withstand internal and external uncertainty risks, while also emphasizing the leap in industrial energy levels through innovative empowerment. The Outline explicitly proposes the developmental goal that "the integrity, sophistication, and security of the modern industrial system be accelerated," systematically explaining the internal structural requirements of a modern industrial system. This provides guidance for promoting the continuous upgrading and dynamic optimization of industry while seeking progress through stability and moving forward step-by-step.
Second, the direction of development is more synergistic. From the perspective of the laws of industrial evolution, industrial integration is an inevitable trend when industry reaches a certain stage; it is an important path for breaking industrial boundaries and reconstructing the industrial ecosystem. The Outline clearly identifies "intelligence, greening, and integration" as the important directions for China's modern industrial system construction during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Compared to the "high-end, intelligence, and greening" of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the addition of "integration" is an accurate grasp of and proactive response to the laws of industrial integration and evolution. It focuses on building an interconnected, synergistic, and symbiotic modern industrial ecosystem, promoting a shift in industrial development toward systematic integration across the entire chain and all fields.
Third, policy thinking is more attuned to the times. From the theoretical perspective of industrial policy, industrial policy is essentially a series of policy tools and institutional arrangements formulated and implemented by the government based on the laws of industrial development and national strategic needs. Its core function is to compensate for market failures and guide high-quality development. The Outline proposes to "promote the transformation of industrial policy toward a universal and functional orientation." This deployment is a deepening practice of modern industrial policy theory, meaning the focus of policy is shifting from selective support for specific industries and enterprises toward creating a fair competitive environment, strengthening basic research, and tackling common core technologies, thereby better serving all types of market entities that align with the orientation of high-quality development.
Precise Implementation: Promoting the Construction of a Modern Industrial System
Facing the developmental orientation and realistic challenges of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, we must follow the laws of industrial development, take the real economy as the core support, focus on key links with precise targeting, and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system through pragmatic measures.
First, strengthen industrial resilience and solidify the basic parameters of the real economy through the "re-industrialization" and upgrading of traditional industries. Industrial resilience is the systemic capacity of an industrial system to maintain structural stability, achieve functional recovery, and derive evolutionary momentum when facing external shocks or internal disturbances. In China's modern industrial system, traditional industries—which account for over 80%—are the base for the stable operation of the system and constitute the core cornerstone of industrial resilience. Strengthening resilience essentially requires traditional industries to leap over the "low-level growth bottleneck" and transform into the foundational base for providing new quality productive forces through systemic renovation. To promote the "re-industrialization" of traditional industries, we must persist in guiding them according to circumstances and implementing sector-specific policies. First, implement the integrated transformation of "standards-technology-institutions." Use the improvement of national standards to lead industries toward the medium-to-high end, empower the entire chain with digital-intelligent and green technologies, and use high standards to force out inefficient and backward production capacity, creating a composite driving force for upgrading. Second, continuously promote the reconstruction of the industrial foundation. Focus on weak areas such as key basic materials, core basic components, and foundational software; establish a routine and sustained mechanism for tackling key problems; and improve support policies for "first-unit" (first-set) major technical equipment [3] to break through the market application bottlenecks of innovative products. Third, improve the gradient cultivation system for high-quality enterprises. Strengthen the leading and driving role of "chain leader" enterprises, and cultivate a large number of "specialized, refined, differential, and innovative" "Little Giant" enterprises [4] and single-champion manufacturing enterprises in a gradient fashion. This will create an industrial ecosystem where large, medium, and small enterprises engage in collaborative innovation and symbiotic growth, comprehensively raising the modernization level and core competitiveness of the entire industrial chain.
Second, optimize the innovation ecosystem and activate the momentum for high-quality development by cultivating new forces. The evolution of new technologies is highly uncertain, making it difficult for the government to accurately predict technical paths or lock in key directions. It is necessary to build an adaptive policy system to promote the transition of industrial policy from "technology-supply oriented" to "demand-pull oriented," forming an institutional basis that supports the fair and efficient allocation of scenario resources. First, establish a cultivation mechanism for new racing tracks [5] led by application scenario innovation. Focus on key fields such as smart cities, green and low-carbon development, and people's livelihood protection; publicly release a "List of Application Scenario Needs"; and open and create a batch of high-value, major application scenarios. This will promote the formation of a full-chain closed loop of "opportunity mining—capacity cultivation—supply-demand matching—implementation and construction—promotion and publicity." Second, build a full-chain incubation ecosystem for future industries. Aiming at frontier fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and biotechnology, build a complete cultivation chain covering frontier exploration, proof of concept, pilot scale testing, and application incubation. Establish a promotion mechanism where technical routes, application scenarios, and business models are explored and adapted in synchronization with inclusive and prudent regulation; improve the mechanism for tollerating failure in innovation; and encourage original and disruptive innovation to the maximum extent. Third, explore agile governance and flexible supervision models. For new business formats, new models, and new racing tracks such as biomedicine, intelligent driving, and the low-altitude economy, actively explore "sandbox regulation" and trigger-based regulation. On the premise of resolutely maintaining the safety bottom line, provide sufficient space for innovation through trial and error, while simultaneously accelerating the process of legislation and revision in related fields to stabilize market development expectations.
Third, promote industrial synergy and extend value chain energy levels by empowering with modern services. Industrial synergy emphasizes the multiplier effect generated by the deep integration of different industrial categories. The deep integration of modern services and advanced manufacturing is a core manifestation of an advanced industrial system. By increasing inputs of intermediate factors such as knowledge, technology, and information, the producer service industry effectively reduces the operating costs of the real economy and increases the density of explicit knowledge in the manufacturing process; it serves as the "lubricant" for collaborative innovation and the "amplifier" of value addition. To further enhance the supporting capacity of the service industry and strengthen industrial synergy, efforts can be made in the following two aspects. First, strengthen high-level producer services. Focus on developing service links such as R&D design, supply chain management, and inspection, testing, and certification. Relying on advanced manufacturing clusters, lay out a batch of common technology platforms and pilot verification platforms, and cultivate new business formats such as smart supply chain networks, shared manufacturing platforms, and industrial data spaces. Second, deepen the deep integration of "the two industries" [6]. Promote the deep embedding of high-end service factors into the entire manufacturing process, support enterprises in transforming from single-product providers to "product + service" integrated solution providers, and promote the leap from "Made in China" to "Created in China" and "Intelligently Manufactured in China," realizing the symbiotic prosperity of "manufacturing" and "service" on the foundation of the real economy.
(The author is the Vice President of Jinan University and a researcher at the Institute of Industrial Economics) Source: Guangming Daily (March 20, 2026) Editor: Huihui