by: Mr. Khalid Taimur Akram, Executive Director, Pakistan Research Center for a Community with Shared Future (PRCCSF), Islamabad:
China’s efforts to facilitate innovation-driven development have been transforming, fostering inclusion, and enhancing industrial advancements. China has become the epicenter of innovation and the digital revolution, underpinned by substantial investments in research and development aimed at reshaping economic and social mechanisms.
With a forward-looking vision, the government has allocated considerable resources into critical domains such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things (IoT), evident in large-scale initiatives like the expansive 5G network deployment and the creation of smart cities nationwide, laying the foundation for future scientific and technological advancements.
In the financial technology sector, China has pioneered innovative platforms, leading the revolution in e-payment and financial services. Such rapid advancements have promoted digital and social inclusion, particularly through investments in digital infrastructure in rural areas, paving the way for a future society where technology drives equitable and holistic development.
China’s developmental model emphasizes social inclusion, technological innovation, and environmental protection, offers valuable lessons to the world, and encourages investments in technology, education, healthcare, and green infrastructure, benefiting both the economy and society. Importantly, China’s integrated and holistic development model holds promise for all countries striving to achieve sustainable and inclusive development, ensuring that present development needs are met for all human beings but also providing the prospects of future generations.
In pursuit of high-quality, innovation-driven development, China has witnessed remarkable economic growth over the decades, with GDP averaging more than 9 percent per year from the 1980s to the 2010s, pursuing innovation-driven growth, as reflected in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–25) for Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives through 2035, which places a strong emphasis on innovation.
China’s commitment to high-quality development, coupled with its opening-up policies and global cooperation efforts, is underpinned by initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and contributions to global security and civilization. These initiatives not only underscore China’s role in driving global growth but also demonstrate its commitment to fostering mutually beneficial cooperation on a global scale.
High-quality development, characterized by innovation, sustainability, and digitalization, aligns with China’s new development philosophy, emphasizing innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and shared benefits. The shift from labour, capital, and land-driven growth to innovation-led growth focuses on new factors such as information technology, big data, and artificial intelligence, aimed at achieving greater efficiency, equity, and sustainability.
This transformation will witness the regulation of high production capacity and technology in favor of green emerging industries and renewable resource technology, fostering a new pattern of green development that fosters harmony between humans and nature, ensuring equitable income distribution and equalization of public resources between urban and rural areas, thereby enabling the benefits of economic growth to be shared more fairly among all individuals.
To achieve this vision in 2024, China is embarking on a year-long program to stimulate consumption, promote digital, environmentally friendly, and health-related consumption, increase effective investment, modernize the industrial system, and accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, all geared towards sustainability and innovation. As China accelerates new industrialization driven by innovation and sustainability, opportunities abound for companies committed to sustainability-focused endeavors.
The optimism surrounding China’s economic growth targets for 2024, expressed by top multinational corporations, shows confidence in China’s long-term potential and underscoring a commitment to expanding and investing in the nation. China’s complete industrial chain, coupled with its improving technological innovation capabilities, provides resilience and potential for future growth.
The transformation of traditional industries, rapid growth of strategic emerging industries, and orderly layout of future industries underscore China’s commitment to forging new growth drivers and advantages, building on advanced manufacturing and modern services, integrating industrial innovations at the international level, and laying the groundwork for a modern industrial system.
The concept of a new quality productive force emphasizes advanced productivity driven by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative production factor allocation, and deep industrial transformation, generating new industries, models, and growth momentum. China’s new momentum, driven by opening-up opportunities, leveraging human resources, exploring new industrialization opportunities, technological innovation, and expanding industrial application scenarios, is vital for maintaining a competitive edge on the global stage.
China’s innovative system, combining top-down government-led initiatives with bottom-up enterprise-driven efforts, maximizes innovation vitality across society, with enterprises playing a pivotal role in technological innovation through collaborations with universities, research institutes, and industry-academia-research innovation alliances.
Hence, China’s relentless pursuit of innovation-driven development has driven its commitment to sustainable, inclusive growth, offering valuable lessons and opportunities for global cooperation and development. China continues on its trajectory towards high-quality development characterized by innovation, sustainability, and digitalization, fostering the transformative potential of China’s initiatives on the global stage.
