General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that to advance the integration of technological and industrial innovation, it is essential to build platforms, improve institutional mechanisms, strengthen the central role of enterprises in innovation, and achieve seamless connections between the innovation chain and the industrial chain. This underscores the pivotal role of enterprises as hubs for knowledge creation and the transformation of achievements in technological innovation, while also setting new requirements and directions for China’s enterprise-driven innovation.

Manufacturing enterprises form the backbone of the real economy and are vital actors in technological innovation. Strengthening their motivation and capacity for innovation—and consolidating their leading position in this regard—is key to driving the high-end, intelligent, and green transformation of the manufacturing industry. At the same time, it provides crucial support for reinforcing the foundations of the real economy and achieving high-level self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology.

Remarkable Achievements in Technological Innovation

Elevating the role of manufacturing enterprises in technological innovation and accelerating the establishment of an enterprise-centered innovation system are critical to promoting high-quality development and improving the modern industrial system. Today, cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing are advancing rapidly. As the core of the modern industrial system, manufacturing is undergoing profound changes in production methods, organizational models, and industrial chain structures. Against this backdrop, China’s manufacturing sector is shifting from “Made in China” to “Created in China.” This transition reflects not only structural optimization and upgrading but also a fundamental shift from low-end manufacturing based on cheap labor to high-end creation driven by independent innovation and mastery of core technologies.

Placing enterprises at the center of technological innovation helps to integrate technological progress with industrial upgrading. This path is essential for advancing China’s manufacturing toward high-end development and is directly linked to China’s position in the global economy. By fully leveraging the role of manufacturing enterprises in innovation, traditional industries can be upgraded, emerging industries nurtured, and enterprises’ capacity for innovation unleashed—opening the pathway from strong science and technology to strong enterprises, industries, and economy, thereby achieving the strategic goal of innovation-driven development.

In recent years, the innovation drive of China’s manufacturing enterprises has significantly strengthened. Enterprises have built more national-level innovation platforms and actively undertaken national innovation projects. In 2024, R&D investment intensity reached 2.68%, with total expenditure exceeding 3.6 trillion yuan. The number of authorized invention patents rose to 1.045 million (up 13.5%), while the density of high-value patents reached 14 per 10,000 people—ranking first globally. The number of valid high-tech enterprises climbed to 463,000, including 169,000 large-scale industrial high-tech firms. Over 570 Chinese industrial enterprises were included in the global top 2500 R&D investors, accounting for nearly one-quarter of the total.

In addition, five new national manufacturing innovation centers were established in 2024, bringing the total to 33. These centers achieved breakthroughs in 672 key generic technologies, facilitated the commercialization of 690 innovations, and incubated 182 enterprises. To accelerate technological iteration, process improvement, and product innovation, China has also expanded the construction of pilot testing platforms: over 2,400 manufacturing pilot test platforms have been established nationwide, with more than 150,000 industrial enterprises above designated size engaging in pilot activities.

These achievements demonstrate that the dominant role of enterprises in technological innovation continues to grow, spawning new markets and demand, injecting momentum into high-quality development, and supporting China’s efforts toward self-reliance in science and technology and the modernization of its industrial system.

Challenges Facing Enterprise-Centered Innovation

Despite these advances, challenges remain. Innovation resources such as talent, national laboratories, and large-scale research facilities are still primarily concentrated in universities and research institutes, leaving enterprises relatively under-resourced. Different types of enterprises also face unique difficulties: leading enterprises often struggle to drive collaborative innovation across industrial chains; large enterprises find it difficult to tackle “bottleneck” problems in key core technologies; and small, medium, and micro enterprises face constraints in scaling up, basic research, and original innovation.

Furthermore, the mechanisms for transforming scientific and technological achievements remain inadequate. Weak connections between supply and demand and insufficient incentives in commercialization hinder enterprises from converting innovations into real productivity.

Strengthening the Dominant Role of Enterprises: Three Key Areas

To further consolidate the central role of manufacturing enterprises in technological innovation, institutional mechanisms must be improved so that enterprises can fully leverage their leadership role, achieve high-quality development, and contribute to China’s goal of becoming a world-class science and technology power. Efforts should focus on three main areas:

1. Building a robust innovation resource guarantee mechanism
   Innovation requires coordinated efforts among government, enterprises, and individuals to channel resources toward manufacturing firms. The government should strengthen policies that encourage innovation, improve mechanisms for standards, incentives, and sharing, implement targeted tax and fee reductions, and promote greater investment from financial institutions and social capital. Enterprises should allocate resources strategically, enhance coordination across projects and funds, attract top talent, lead industrial innovation, and build comprehensive ecosystems. Large, medium, and small firms should form innovation consortia to share resources and knowledge. Enterprise researchers should also strengthen engagement with universities and research institutes to stimulate joint innovation.
2. Improving mechanisms for cultivating enterprises at different levels
   Manufacturing enterprises of all sizes should be guided to capitalize on their unique advantages. Leading enterprises should actively establish innovation funds, create research institutes, and build platforms that drive upstream and downstream innovation. Large enterprises should increase R&D investment, target core technological bottlenecks, and strengthen independent and collaborative innovation. Small and medium-sized enterprises should overcome resource and scale constraints by investing more in basic and applied research, improving coordination, and boosting original innovation capacity.
3. Enhancing transformation of scientific and technological achievements
   Enterprises should improve the application of intellectual property rights, streamline the commercialization of research results, and scale up the application of innovations. Laws, regulations, and management standards for technology transfer must be strengthened, along with intellectual property protections. Dedicated funds for technology commercialization, risk compensation for loans, and financing linked to IP pledges should be expanded. Enterprises should also accelerate the construction of concept verification and pilot test platforms, strengthen technology transfer talent teams, and create more application scenarios for strategic and emerging technologies, thereby improving commercialization efficiency and accelerating innovation-to-market cycles.

Conclusion

Strengthening the role of manufacturing enterprises in technological innovation is essential for upgrading the manufacturing sector, consolidating the real economy, and advancing China’s innovation-driven development strategy. By building robust resource mechanisms, cultivating enterprises at all levels, and enhancing the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, China can further empower its manufacturing enterprises to become the backbone of a strong industrial system and a global leader in innovation.

(Source: Science and Technology Daily, August 11, 2025)