Stories of High-Quality Development | Ding Kuiling: Closing 'three key miles' when driving the development of high-quality productive forces through scientific and technological innovation

In the face of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, what should China's priorities be in its economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period? How can the country drive the development of new quality productive forces through scientific and technological innovation?

"We must continue to promote industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation, foster new quality productive forces in line with local conditions, and channel various types of advanced production factors toward the development of new quality productive forces," said Ding Kuiling, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University at the "Stories of High-Quality Development," a People's Daily video series. Ding added that we need to close "three key miles" when driving the development of high-quality productive forces through scientific and technological innovation.

First, we need to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key areas and address the "first mile" challenge of breeding scientific and technological innovation. The current basic research should focus on three zones. The first is the "focus zone," mainly referring to strategically oriented, systematized basic research. We must pool our strength to accomplish great things, focusing on major scientific programs and large-scale engineering projects, and turn what we've learned into real contributions on the ground across the nation. The second is the "free exploration zone," mainly referring to frontier-oriented, exploratory basic research. We need to build new types of scientific and technological innovation platforms to generate original, forward-looking, and disruptive innovation results. The third is the "integration zone," mainly referring to market-oriented, application-oriented basic research. We need to leverage the guiding role of the coordinated development of these "three zones" to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces by breeding scientific and technological innovation.

Second, we need to speed up the shift to new growth drivers to address the "one mile" challenge of accumulating advantages for emerging industries. Facing today's challenges, China must proactively leverage digital and green technologies to upgrade traditional industries and speed up the shift to new growth drivers. At the same time, China needs to empower its industrial structure upgrading through scientific and technological innovation to continuously promote the accumulation of new growth drivers, the emergence of new business models, and the expansion of new industries. It also needs to modernize its industrial system to provide more momentum and support for achieving high-quality development.

Third, we need to launch the "AI Plus" initiative to ensure the critical "last mile" in the transformation of future industries. We need to press ahead by serving national strategies, taking the "AI Plus" initiative as the starting point and priority, driving disruptive innovation through innovation from the bottom, accelerating revolutionary advances through breakthroughs in basic research. This way we can promote cross-sector collaborative innovation, precisely identify and proactively cultivate future industries, and open up new fields for future industries through disruptive technologies.

"From the upgrading of traditional industries, to the surge of emerging industries and to the strategic layout of future industries, China is vigorously promoting the development of new quality productive forces by advancing scientific and technological innovation. Today's China is relentlessly innovating to reshape industries while pioneering the future through innovation," said Ding confidently.