“New quality productive forces” is now a buzzword. What is new about new quality productive forces? What is the strategic significance of proposing this concept in the current domestic and international environment? In this speech, I would like to share my thoughts and understanding on these questions.

What is new about new quality productive forces?

To accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, we need to first understand what they are. During the 11^th Collective Study Session of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China presided over by him on January 31 this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping stated, “In general terms, with innovation playing the leading role, new quality productive forces mean advanced productivity that is freed from traditional economic growth mode and productivity development paths, features high-tech, high efficiency and high quality and comes in line with the new development philosophy.” Although this definition appears straightforward, it actually has a lot of depth. New quality productive forces are superior to traditional productive forces because they embody new technologies, create new value, adapt to new industries and reshape new growth drivers. In other words, they are a new class of high-quality productive forces.

I would like to focus on the fundamental meaning of new quality productive forces, namely, “the improvement of workers, means of labor, subjects of labor and their optimal combinations.” How do we understand this phrase?

In my view, the workers involved in new quality productive forces are digital-intelligent workers, including both new talents capable of rapidly iterating knowledge, fully utilizing new technologies and quickly adapting to digital-intelligent machinery and equipment, artificial intelligence (AI), human digital twins and human-machine interaction robots.

The means of labor involved in new quality productive forces are high-end precision instruments and intelligent devices that have undergone digital-intelligent upgrading. As human labor is shifting from general labor to innovative labor and from in-kind labor to informative labor, the means of labor are shifting from traditional machinery, equipment and instruments to high-end precision instruments and intelligent devices with digital-intelligent upgrades. With the rapid advancement of digital technologies such as foundation models and AI, intelligent sensors, automatic assembly lines, automated storage and retrieval systems, 3D printers, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices have become new means of labor that promote the interaction of industrialization and informatization and accelerate the combination of online and offline production scenarios and the integration of the digital economy and the real economy. The means of labor involved in new quality productive forces overcome the passivity and repetitiveness of traditional mechanized production and exhibit distinctive abstractness, interactivity, flexibility and intelligence.

The subjects of labor involved in new quality productive forces include both material form subjects such as new energy and new materials and non-material form subjects such as massive data and information. On the one hand, the subjects of labor involved in new quality productive forces cover new energy sources such as hydrogen energy, nuclear energy and geothermal energy as well as new materials such as carbon nanomaterials, biomimetic materials and optoelectronic materials, which can overcome the shortcomings of traditional energy and materials, such as insufficient reserves, non-renewability and severe environmental damage, effectively lessen the environmental burden while creating new jobs and new economic growth drivers in the development process. On the other hand, the aforementioned subjects also involve massive information and data, and unlike natural resources, the more the information and data are used and shared, the more valuable they become; information and data are not constrained by space and time and can enable more flexible labor production and services to the public, greatly improving production efficiency.

An optimal combination of the above three will generate a “1+1+1>3” leapfrog effect, producing a qualitative leap in productive forces and releasing previously unheard-of tremendous momentum.

Deeply understanding the importance of developing new quality productive forces from the perspective of situations both in and outside China

Globally speaking, no country has defined and explained new quality productive forces conceptually; yet, major countries are all attempting to hasten the production of new quality productive forces based on the practices of global productive force development. Specifically, in the new round of scientific and technological revolution and global industrial chain restructuring, they are competing to seize core technologies in key fields, focusing on developing new technologies such as AI, advanced manufacturing, quantum information science and 5G communication, proactively deploying emerging industries such as intelligent robots, digital economy and new energy, and driving industrial transformation through new technologies, thereby promoting the development of their new quality productive forces.

In March 2021, the U.S. released the report, Building U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness and Capacity, indicating further expansion of the existing Manufacturing Extension Partnership program. In 2022, the U.S. released the National Strategy for Advanced Manufacturing, establishing three goals: to develop and implement advanced manufacturing technologies, to grow the advanced manufacturing workforce, and to build resilience into manufacturing supply chain. In October 2023, the U.S. began implementing the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program, focusing on supporting the development of innovative industries across the U.S., including semiconductors, minerals, energy, health care and quantum computing. Germany has formulated a series of systematic and strategic modern industrial policies. In 2010, Germany unveiled its High-Tech Strategy 2020 for Germany, giving priority support to “future-oriented projects” in five major areas of climate / energy, health / nutrition, mobility, security and communications. In 2011, the German government proposed the “Industry 4.0” strategy, emphasizing the digitalization of industrial chains and the horizontal and vertical integration of value chains and inputting substantial resources into emerging industries such as biotechnology, renewable energy and communication technology. In 2019, Germany released the National Industrial Strategy 2030, outlining its industrial development for the next decade and focusing on supporting industries, such as cloud computing, digital education and intelligent services, to promote the prosperity and development of the digital economy. Japan has been committed to advancing the Super Smart Society / Society 5.0 plan since 2016 and has successively released strategic plans such as the Comprehensive Strategy on Science, Technology and Innovation 2016 and the White Paper on Manufacturing Industries in Japan. In 2020, the Japanese government released the White Paper on Productivity. In 2021, Japan updated the Act on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness, focusing on corporate innovation potential and industrial competitiveness. In February 2023, Japan proposed a “new form of capitalism” concept, mainly supporting seven fields: semiconductors, quantum science, AI, network communication, biology, space and oceans. The concept aims to overall enhance Japan’s sci-tech R&D capabilities and strength, underpinned by “disruptive innovation” as the basic concept.

Accelerating the development of new quality productive forces essentially entails focusing on the breakthrough directions of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, since new fields, arenas, and industries must be created with innovative, cutting-edge and disruptive technologies to maintain their high positions in the global industrial chain and productivity landscape.

China’s economic development has been taking place amid a complex internal and external environment in recent years. Whether it is to promote economic recovery or to win strategic initiative, create a new development pattern and achieve high-quality development in future development and international competition, the key lies in sci-tech innovation, the focus lies in industrial upgrading, and the foundation lies in the comprehensive improvement of the level of productive forces. Under such circumstances, the central government’s request to expedite the development of new quality productive forces has proven appropriate in these conditions.

Accelerating the development of new quality productive forces is a fundamental way to promote China’s industrial transformation and upgrading and comprehensively build a modern industrial system. Not only can new quality productive forces promote traditional industries’ transition toward intelligence and green development, but they can also give rise to emerging industry forms and accelerate the development of strategic emerging industries and future industries. On the one hand, by introducing advanced concepts and key technologies such as intelligent manufacturing, digital twins and the Internet of Things, new quality productive forces promote the deep integration of industrialization, digitization and intellectualization and enable traditional industries to continuously create new business forms and new models, improve industrial efficiency and shape new competitive edges; on the other hand, new quality productive forces cover the development of high-tech, advanced manufacturing and digital technology fields where disruptive technologies continue to emerge and bloom, which is conducive to China opening up new fields and new arenas for high-quality development and reshaping new growth drivers and new advantages for industrial development. The process of developing new quality productive forces involves advancing the coordinated development of traditional and emerging industries, accelerating the deep integration of the real and virtual economies, and upgrading and transforming the industrial sector. Therefore, China’s industrial transformation and upgrading will be accelerated by accelerating the development of new quality productive forces. This will also make it possible for traditional, emerging and future industries grow in harmony and prosper, ultimately building a modern industrial system as a whole.

Accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces is the only way to improve China’s resource allocation efficiency and advance sustainable economic and social development. Accelerating the development of new quality productive forces means that China should free itself from dependence on traditional growth paths, drive industrial transformation and economic development in reliance on sci-tech innovation and blaze a new trail toward green, coordinated and sustainable development; it means driving industrial transformation and economic development model transformation and upgrading with science and technology, which is not only technical improvement and transformation but also innovation that promotes the entire economic structure and social operation mode, namely, transitioning from the traditional resource-intensive development model to an intelligent, knowledge-intensive and high-value-added development model. Accelerating the development of new quality productive forces means the efficient use of resources, development of digital, intelligent and eco-friendly technologies through sci-tech innovation, leading new production patterns and lifestyles, and allocation of more resources to strategic emerging industries and future industries, thereby improving resource allocation efficiency; it means sustainable economic and social development, reduction of energy consumption per unit output value, waste gas, wastewater and solid waste by promoting the use of new materials, new energy and low-carbon and green new technologies and acceleration of the green transformation of China’s economic development mode toward a more low-carbon, green and sustainable direction by introducing green and environmental technologies and circular production processes so that economic growth no longer comes at the cost of the environment but relies more on technological progress and efficient resource utilization, thereby promoting the sustainable development of China’s economy and society.

Accelerating the development of new quality productive forces is a strategic choice to achieve high-quality development and advance Chinese modernization. New quality productive forces are the material basis and fundamental driving force for advancing Chinese modernization. Accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces means applying frontier science and technology to the intelligent and digital upgrading of traditional production equipment and to the improvement of traditional production process flows and realizing the modernization of material production; it means the large-scale popularization of new energy vehicles, Smart Vehicle Internet and driverless technologies and realization of low-carbon and modern transportation; it means the comprehensive coverage of smart logistics, data cloud storage, wireless network access, etc. and realization of modernization of infrastructure; it means reduction of energy consumption, saving of resources and alleviation of environmental pollution through the widespread application of new energy, new materials and new technologies and achievement of modernization of ecological civilization construction; it means liberation of workers from mechanical and repetitive labor with advanced production technologies and digital-intelligent equipment and helps to achieve the modernization of people; it means vigorous advancement of digital government affairs and smart city construction, guarantee of social security, improvement of the level of social governance and achievement of the modernization of social civilization.

How to accelerate the fostering and development of new quality productive forces

Developing new quality productive forces requires further theoretical summarization and generalization to better guide practice and requires actions to conduct overall planning and systematic advancement. In particular, it is important to advance work in the following aspects:

Firstly, further deepening comprehensive reforms to accelerate the formation of new relations of production that adapt to new quality productive forces. China should deepen reforms of the economic system, scientific and technological system, etc., build systems and mechanisms that adapt to new quality productive forces, establish a high-standard market system, innovate the allocation methods of production factors, further optimize the macro environment for developing new quality productive forces and allow various advanced and high-quality production factors to freely flow into the field of new quality productive forces. To create a favorable international cooperation environment for developing new quality productive forces, China should, in the meantime, expand higher-standard opening-up, actively promote the integration of the world’s various advanced new quality productive force factors with China’s new quality productive forces, and proactively participate in global competition and industrial chain and supply chain restructuring. China should move faster to improve scientific research management systems and mechanisms, establish a sci-tech innovation evaluation system with developing new quality productive forces at the core and accelerate the transformation of sci-tech achievements into new quality productive forces. China should further improve laws and regulations pertaining to sci-tech innovation, strengthen intellectual property protection, further refine intellectual property protection regulations for new quality productive forces, move faster to improve the intellectual property trading market and promote the rapid transformation and market application of sci-tech achievements.

Secondly, cultivating new digital-intelligent talents for developing new quality productive forces. Developing new quality productive forces requires a large number of new digital-intelligent talents with high sci-tech and cultural qualities, capabilities to apply various cutting-edge technologies thoroughly, and proficiency in various new production tools. China must propel the deep integration of education, talent cultivation, innovation chains and industrial chains and improve the working mechanisms for talent cultivation, introduction, use and rational flow. Based on new trends in sci-tech development, China should optimize the discipline settings and talent training modes of research colleges and universities and accelerate the formation of a talent structure that adapts to the development needs of new quality productive forces. China should attach importance to the advantages of vocational education in cultivating professional and technical talents, enable vocational education to adapt to the development trends of digitalization and intellectualization as soon as possible and continue to improve the quality of training vocational and technical talents required by new quality productive forces. China should further stimulate the vitality of various production factors such as labor, knowledge, technology, management, capital and data, strengthen the market value of knowledge, technology, innovation, talents and management and fully arouse the enthusiasm and creativity of various human resources factors in participating in and developing new quality productive forces.

Thirdly, advancing the development of new quality productive forces through sci-tech innovation. Sci-tech innovation is essential to developing new quality productive forces, and can produce new industries, new models and new growth drivers. Accelerating the development of new quality productive forces is premised on disruptive and breakthrough innovations in frontier technology fields. China should maximize the advantages of its socialist system in concentrating efforts on major tasks to tackle major sci-tech projects, accelerate the achievement of great self-reliance and strength in science and technology and achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields so that original and disruptive sci-tech innovation achievements emerge one after another. China should advance industry-academia-research collaborative innovation and integrated development, deploy in advance and comprehensively conduct prospective, pioneering and exploratory frontier technology research, vigorously support industrial application research, make breakthroughs in a group of core and key technologies in key industries and strategically important emerging industries and form a group of sci-tech achievements with independent intellectual property rights and prospects for large-scale applications. China should actively guide innovation factors toward enterprises, strengthen enterprises’ independent innovation awareness and capabilities, amplify sci-tech innovation’s role in driving strategically important emerging industries, and encourage the transformation of more sci-tech achievements into real new quality productive forces.

Fourthly, accelerating the cultivation and development of data element markets. Data is one of the new elements of new quality productive forces. It is important to pay full attention to the status of data elements in production activities and establish a standardized data element management system. China should legally define the property rights of data elements, set up a national data rights confirmation and registration platform as soon as possible and formulate measures for defining data property rights; develop a value evaluation system for data elements as soon as possible and define indicators related to the credibility, shareability and practicality of data elements for more accurate assessment and trading of data elements. China should move faster to improve data element markets and stimulate the production and sharing of data elements. China should increase data transparency and exchange while removing obstacles to increase the value of data in sharing. China should constantly enhance and reinforce data security policies in addition to monitoring and routinely evaluating the efficacy of data security measures, as the circumstances may require.

Fifthly, improving the level of digital empowerment of new quality productive forces. Accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces requires closely monitoring the global digital development trend and accelerating the transformation and upgrading of digital industrialization and industrial digitization, to promote the development and improvement of new quality productive forces. On the one hand, China should expedite the process of digital industrialization, seize its early development and rapid start advantages in the digital industry, promote the transformation and dissemination of technological innovations in the digital domain, strengthen the construction of big data centers and digital infrastructure, and build world-class clusters in the digital industry. China, on the other hand, should prioritize encouraging the digital transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. In order to completely transform the system and supply chain of traditional manufacturing, China should maximize the synergy of digital technology applications, promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, and make full use of modern digital information technology. China should also adopt measures to digitalize and intellectualize the whole chains of R&D design, production processes, production management and sales services and the whole processes of production and manufacturing. Additionally, China should accelerate the construction of information network infrastructure, build industrial Internet platforms and strengthen policy service and guidance, thereby facilitating the digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of traditional industries in decision-making, production and operations, effectively reducing costs, improving total factor productivity and achieving high-quality growth.

Sixthly, further cementing the computing power foundation for developing new quality productive forces. Computing power is a necessary prerequisite for developing new quality productive forces. Only by comprehensively improving the level of computing power can new technologies such as big data and AI be successfully implemented, the value of data elements be fully explored and strategic emerging industries and future industries be rapidly developed. China should increase its financial investment and support in the chip field, promote the improvement of advanced manufacturing processes and design capabilities for chips, advance chip design and manufacturing technology innovation, push forward the research, promotion and application of supercomputers and accelerate the building and improvement of the hardware foundation of high-quality computing power. China should strengthen international exchange and cooperation to absorb international advanced experience and technology in the fields of algorithms and software, accelerate the exploration of new computing power areas such as quantum computing, optical computing, and brain-like computing, strengthen intellectual property protection in the fields of algorithms and software and accelerate the improvement of the software foundation of high-quality computing power. China should focus on optimizing the layout of computing power, continue to advance the “east data, west computing” project, promote the ecosystem development of the computing power industry, and expand the application of computing power technology in various industries.

Seventhly, increasing the green momentum for developing new quality productive forces. As new quality productive forces are also green productive forces, they inherently necessitate quickening the green transformation of productive forces, contributing to the achievement of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, driving green industry development and expanding the scale of the green economy by using green technologies, and taking a resource-efficient and eco-friendly development path. China should accelerate the building of a green technology innovation system that is demand-oriented, problem-oriented and market-oriented, quicken the process of improving the international competitiveness of advanced green and low-carbon technologies, further reduce the R&D and promotion costs of green technologies, and drive the promotion and application of advanced green technologies. China should vigorously develop green finance and carbon trading markets, expand the industries of energy conservation and environmental protection, clean production and clean energy, strengthen its green manufacturing sector, develop green service and green energy industries, foster the growth of green and low-carbon industries and supply chains, and create efficient ecological green industry clusters and green ecological industrial areas. China should advocate green consumption and low-carbon living, advance the energy revolution, consumption revolution and green and low-carbon production patterns and lifestyles, create a clean, low-carbon, secure and efficient energy system and build a green, low-carbon and circular economic development system.

Eighthly, comprehensively optimizing the financial supply that supports the development of new quality productive forces. In order to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, it is necessary to bring into full play the “blood (fund) supply” function of finance to provide flexible and adequate funding for the following aspects: technology R&D in frontier fields; transformation and implementation of sci-tech achievements; rational allocation of new quality production factors; and fostering of new industries, new growth drivers and new models. China should expedite the improvement of a multi-level capital market to provide financial services that cover the life cycle of enterprises and should further grow the venture capital market to support the development and expansion of a group of start-up enterprises in revolutionary and disruptive technology fields. China should bring into full play the role of different types of banks at different levels in supporting enterprises’ sci-tech innovation and industrial transformation and upgrading, and encourage banking institutions to actively create cutting-edge credit products. China should continue to enhance the guarantee system, strengthen the guarantees of policy-based financing guarantee funds for enterprises’ sci-tech innovation loans, and foster a favorable market environment for guaranteeing sci-tech innovation loans.