Developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions is an intrinsic requirement and an important focus for promoting high-quality development, is part of the important methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and is highly political, strategic, guiding and targeted in nature.

“Revitalizing” the stock and “innovating” the increment

New quality productive forces, a tangible representation of advanced productive forces, are the outcome of significant technological advancements, innovatively allocated production factors and in-depth industrial transformation and upgrading. They are characterized by high technology, high efficiency and high quality, being a key driving force for high-quality development. Fostering and developing new quality productive forces requires immediate and urgent action but should never be done blindly. Acting according to local conditions must be considered throughout the process.

Developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions shows not only a thorough comprehension of China’s national conditions but also an accurate understanding of the rich connotation of new quality productive forces. On the one hand, developing new quality productive forces should not simply adopt a single development pattern because China has a vast territory and a large population and different regions have different resource endowments and development levels; on the other hand, developing new quality productive forces should not “abolish the old before establishing the new” but should fully utilize local industrial foundations and achieve “revitalizing” the stock and “innovating” the incremental in the process of promoting the integration of the new economy, new technology and new and old industries.

“Revitalizing” the stock means that traditional industries should accelerate transformation and upgrading, use new technologies for transformation and improvement and actively promote themselves to become high-end, intelligent and green; “innovating” the incremental emphasizes bringing into play the leading role of innovation, breaking away from traditional economic growth modes and productive force development paths and continuously giving rise to new industries, new models and new growth drivers.

A wave of embracing new quality productive forces is being set off across the entire country. Localities are focusing on new quality productive forces, introducing new measures, seizing opportunities and competing for layout. However, developing new quality productive forces is not catching trends or chasing hotspots and should not be done blindly or mandated. It is important to avoid following suit, which ignores industrial laws and regional conditions, and to avoid the impulse of “going all out and going fast,” so as not to “throw away the eating utensils in your hands before you have new eating utensils in your hands”.

Creating distinct growth poles

In order to develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, one must always start from actual conditions, seek truth from facts, and concentrate on localities’ resource endowment, industrial foundation and scientific research conditions.

Firstly, optimizing the layout and fostering new quality productive forces based on resource endowment advantages.

Each place has its own way of supporting its own industries. Only by making good use of its resource endowment and exerting comparative advantages can a place accurately arrange its industrial layout. Localities should be oriented toward national strategies, consider the regional resource and environmental carrying capacity and comparative advantages, optimize the industrial space layout, strengthen cooperation between resource-dependent regions and surrounding central cities and provincial capitals, connect with advanced production factors and innovation resources, and promote the flow of production factors such as capital, talent and technology.

Moreover, localities can accelerate developing the strategic emerging industries closely related to resource deep-processing, including new materials, new energy, energy conservation and environmental protection and high-end equipment manufacturing industries, and improve the innovation capacity and value-added of the industrial chain, thereby cultivating a group of emerging pillar industries.

Secondly, properly handling the relationship between new and old industries based on traditional industries.

Developing new quality productive forces does not mean neglecting or abandoning traditional industries but rather promoting the in-depth transformation and upgrading of traditional industries using new technologies. Localities should thoroughly promote the empowerment of traditional manufacturing by digitalization and intellectualization, drive green technology innovation, promote the application of advanced green technologies, and advance the high-end, intelligent and green transformation of traditional industries.

Localities, while exerting the advantages of traditional industries, can focus on creating several strategic emerging industries, such as bio-manufacturing, commercial aerospace and low-altitude economy, and open up new future industries, such as quantum and life science industries, to complement one another and jointly spur the formation of new quality productive forces.

Thirdly, promoting the empowerment of new quality productive forces through sci-tech innovation based on localities’ scientific research conditions.

Localities can, based on the sci-tech innovation advantages in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, establish technology research leagues, gather innovation resources and focus on breaking through the bottlenecks of a group of core technologies and making breakthroughs in future technologies.

Localities can utilize the comparative advantages of local universities and research institutes in characteristic disciplines, fortify their innovation partnerships with enterprises, build achievement R&D and transformation mechanisms with industry-university-research-application integration, encourage the local trading, transformation and application of more sci-tech achievements, and move faster to create distinct growth poles for new quality productive forces.