Zhong Sheng: US Must Remove Barriers to AI Cooperation - Li Lecheng on China's Approach to Developing Future Industries
If you followed the China-US rhetoric tracker that I had shared prior to Donald Trump’s visit to China, you would have seen my remark that we should expect positive voices from Beijing on China-US ties after the visit. Today’s paper is an example of that. On Page 3, there are three positive notes being struck.
First, there’s a report about the Embassy of China in the US hosting the “Night of Pickleball & the Premiere of China Trip Documentary”. The readout says:
“Ambassador Xie Feng and his wife Madam Wang Dan joined teachers and students of an American youth pickleball delegation who had visited China, along with their families, in looking back on a heartwarming journey in which young Chinese and Americans connected through pickleball and became true friends.”
“In his remarks, Ambassador Xie noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping recently replied to a letter from Chinese and U.S. students, where President Xi pointed out that initiative to invite 50,000 young Americans to China for exchange and study over five years has reached its goal two and a half years ahead of schedule. Xie underscored that this is more than an inspiring number, but a powerful example of young people from our two countries reaching out to one another across the Pacific — and a youthful promise for the future of China-U.S. relations. Through pickleball, the young Chinese and Americans developed sincere friendship, learned from each other and experienced an open China, connecting with one another and building bridges of communication. From ping-pong to pickleball, the paddles have changed. But the two peoples’ shared wish for friendship remains as strong as ever. Xie Feng pointed out that China-U.S. relations stand at a new historical starting point. Now it is up to us to follow the direction set by our two presidents. Let’s work together toward a relationship with cooperation as the mainstay, competition within proper limits, manageable differences and expectable peace. That way, we could advance the stable, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations, and explore the right way for China and the United States to get along in this new era. Xie called upon the audience to follow the trend of the times and expand common ground; expand exchanges and cooperation to jointly strengthen the foundation of bilateral relations; step forward and help shape mankind’s shared future.”
Another report talks about the centennial gala of the China Institute of America in New York. China Daily’s report informs that:
“This year’s gala honored individuals and families recognized for their contributions to US-China relations and cross-cultural exchange, including the Nixon family, Bush family and Rockefeller family; former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa; entrepreneur and philanthropist Ming Hsieh and Eva Hsieh; and professors Li Kai and Cui Yi.”
In the People’s Daily’s report, three prominent Americans are mentioned, calling for “strengthened bilateral exchanges”. These are: Christopher Nixon Cox, the grandson of Richard Nixon. Neil Bush, who is the founder and chair of the George HW Bush Foundation for US-China Relations. He is also the son of the 41st President of the US. Also mentioned is David Firestein, the president and CEO of the George HW Bush Foundation for US-China Relations. Others who are mentioned in China Daily are Steven Rockefeller Jr.
Finally, there’s a Zhong Sheng commentary, which focuses on US-China cooperation in AI. The piece criticises American semiconductor export controls, but does not tell us that the Chinese government is stopping Chinese companies from buying American chips.
Recently, the heads of state of China and the US held constructive exchanges on the issue of AI, and agreed to launch an AI inter-governmental dialogue. At present, China-US relations have generally maintained stability, with the establishment of the new positioning of a ‘a relationship of constructive strategic stability between China and the US’. As two AI great powers, China and the US working together to promote AI development and governance is both a concrete embodiment of implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state and will also push AI to better serve the progress of human civilisation and the common welfare of the international community.日前，中美两国元首就人工智能问题进行了建设性交流，同意开展人工智能政府间对话。当前，中美关系总体保持稳定，确定了“中美建设性战略稳定关系”的新定位。作为两个人工智能大国，中美双方携手促进人工智能发展和治理，这既是落实两国元首共识的具体体现，也将推动人工智能更好服务人类文明进步和国际社会共同福祉.
Against the backdrop of an accelerating intelligent transformation, whether China and the US can strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the field of AI bears on the advancement of AI technology and the spread of its applications, as well as on effectively responding to the attendant risks and challenges. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger repeatedly pointed out that in the face of global challenges such as AI, China-US cooperation is particularly important. The two sides have many common interests in the AI field and should transcend the mindset of competition and confrontation and jointly safeguard the development of AI. China and the US have previously co-sponsored each other’s resolutions on AI at the UN General Assembly, and the two countries maintain regular Track II communication and dialogue; this fully demonstrates that the two sides are capable of conducting positive interaction in this important field. China stands ready to strengthen communication and coordination with the international community, including the US, to promote the formation of a globally consensus-based AI governance framework and standards. 在智能变革加速到来的背景下，中国和美国能否在人工智能领域加强交流合作，既关乎推动人工智能技术升级与应用普及，也关乎有效应对随之而来的风险挑战。美国前国务卿基辛格曾多次指出，在人工智能这样的全球性挑战面前，中美合作显得尤为重要。双方在人工智能领域存在许多共同利益，理应超越竞争对抗思维，共同为人工智能发展保驾护航。中美曾在联合国大会相互联署各自关于人工智能的决议，两国在二轨层面保持经常性沟通对话，这充分说明双方能够在这一重要领域展开良性互动。中方愿同包括美方在内的国际社会加强沟通协调，推动形成具有广泛共识的全球人工智能治理框架和标准规范.
Recently, reporters from the American Broadcasting Company rode in autonomous vehicles in Beijing, while a Fox News host used English to buy sausages from a robot in a Beijing convenience store; they marvelled that ‘in China, AI is not the future, it has already arrived’. AI is a highly collaborative field, and broad cooperation can accelerate technological progress. The industry widely holds that China and the US each have their own emphases across the various links of AI R&D, application, and regulation, and the two countries’ experiences are mutually complementary to a certain degree. The two sides can fully achieve complementary advantages and realise mutual benefit and win-win outcomes on the basis of mutual respect, accelerating the development of AI technology and the spread of its applications. As an article on MIT Technology Review’s website pointed out, in the field of AI, the world’s major powers must join hands and cooperate to ensure that this technology genuinely benefits all humanity. 近日，美国广播公司记者在北京试乘无人驾驶汽车，美国福克斯新闻主持人在北京便利店用英语向机器人买烤肠，他们感叹，“在中国，人工智能不是未来，它已经到来。”人工智能是一个高度协作的领域，广泛合作可以加速技术进步。业界普遍认为，中美在人工智能技术研发、应用、监管等各环节各有侧重，两国经验具有一定互补性。双方完全可以在相互尊重的基础上达成优势互补、实现互利共赢，加速推动人工智能技术发展和应用普及。正如美国麻省理工科技评论网站刊文指出，在人工智能领域世界大国必须携手合作，确保这项技术真正造福全人类. (Note: It’s always a narrative boon for Beijing when foreign journalists go to China and marvel at technology displays and achievements. These fleeting visits are always highlighted. But when you have journalists who do sustained, deep reporting while living in China, that’s seldom appreciated, as you can see with the expulsion of NYT’s Vivian Wang.)
Market practice has fully proven that China-US cooperation on AI has enormous potential and can achieve mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. China has become the world’s largest holder of AI patents and an important engine of the global intelligent transformation, providing broad market opportunities for American enterprises. China’s low-cost, high-performance open-source large AI models continue to attract the global industry’s attention, and US technology companies such as Nvidia, Microsoft, and AMD are actively engaging with China’s AI technology ecosystem, conducting diversified business collaboration. Lenovo Group and Nvidia have jointly launched an ‘AI Cloud Super Factory’, jointly planning next-generation intelligent infrastructure to empower and enhance industrial upgrading. A series of practical cooperation cases fully demonstrate that China-US AI cooperation can break through technological, market, and industrial barriers and unleash innovation momentum through mutual empowerment. 近日，美国广播公司记者在北京试乘无人驾驶汽车，美国福克斯新闻主持人在北京便利店用英语向机器人买烤肠，他们感叹，“在中国，人工智能不是未来，它已经到来。”人工智能是一个高度协作的领域，广泛合作可以加速技术进步。业界普遍认为，中美在人工智能技术研发、应用、监管等各环节各有侧重，两国经验具有一定互补性。双方完全可以在相互尊重的基础上达成优势互补、实现互利共赢，加速推动人工智能技术发展和应用普及。正如美国麻省理工科技评论网站刊文指出，在人工智能领域世界大国必须携手合作，确保这项技术真正造福全人类.
Competition between China and the United States in the field of AI is natural, but it should be healthy competition, and the two sides should also demonstrate the responsibility of major powers through cooperation. At present, there remain some practical obstacles to China-US cooperation in the AI field. Certain people on the US side view AI through a zero-sum game mentality, politicising, instrumentalising, and weaponising AI technology, and have introduced protective measures such as investment restrictions, chip export controls, and cloud-computing service controls, artificially erecting barriers to cooperation. Such practices of ‘decoupling and breaking chains’ and ‘small yards with high fences’ violate the objective laws of scientific and technological development, harm the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises in both countries, and are unfavourable to the coordinated development of the global AI industry. In the face of suppression and containment, China firmly safeguards its own right to development, and remains committed to making AI an inclusive engine for global development. 中美在人工智能领域存在竞争是自然的，但应良性竞争，还要通过合作共同展现大国担当。当前，中美人工智能领域合作仍存在一些现实阻碍。美方一些人以零和博弈心态看待人工智能，将人工智能技术政治化、工具化、武器化，出台投资限制、芯片出口管制、云计算服务管控等保护性措施，人为设置合作壁垒。此类“脱钩断链”“小院高墙”的做法，违背科技发展客观规律，也损害了两国企业的合法权益，不利于全球人工智能产业协同发展。面对打压遏制，中国坚决维护自身发展权利，坚定推动人工智能成为全球发展的普惠引擎.
The world does not wish to see an ‘AI Iron Curtain’ or ‘AI enclosures’. Ensuring that AI is for good and benefits all humanity is the greatest common interest shared by China and the United States in the field of AI. It is hoped that the US will move toward China, strengthen dialogue, manage competition, and carry out cooperation, so that AI can become a new frontier of China-US cooperation and a new ladder for human progress, and together the two countries can create an even brighter intelligent future. 世界不希望看到“人工智能铁幕”、搞“人工智能圈地”。确保人工智能向善、造福全人类，这是中美两国在人工智能领域最大的共同利益。期待美方同中方相向而行，加强对话、管理竞争、开展合作，让人工智能成为中美合作的新疆域、人类进步的新阶梯，携手开创更加美好的智能未来.
On the theory page today, there’s an article by Li Lecheng, Minister of Industry and Information Technology. He defines future industries, discusses the significance of developing them, outlines China’s strengths and then proposes five key focus areas. Among the many things that one can take away from the article, the key macro points are:
Cultivating future industries is critical given the rapid technological and geopolitical changes that are taking place in the world.
From Beijing’s perspective, the development of future industries is a long-term strategic task and must be placed within the construction of the modern industrial system for long-term planning.
Here’s the piece:
“The 11th issue of Qiushi magazine, published on June 1, carries the important article by General Secretary Xi Jinping, ‘Making Forward-Looking Plans for and Developing Future Industries.’ The article emphasises that ‘basing ourselves on objective conditions, giving play to comparative advantages, adhering to seeking progress while maintaining stability, and cultivating step by step according to gradients, we should promote continuous new breakthroughs in the development of our country’s future industries.’ The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the development of future industries. In recent years, they have continuously strengthened top-level design and introduced a series of policies, driving the development of future industries to exhibit strong momentum. We must resolutely implement the relevant arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, anchor strategic objectives, focus on such areas as systematic planning, technological breakthroughs, enterprise cultivation, factor supply, governance systems, and opening-up and cooperation, seek breakthroughs and practical results, strive to create a new situation in the innovative development of future industries, and provide solid support for building a modernized industrial system and comprehensively building a socialist modernized country. 6月1日出版的第11期《求是》杂志发表习近平总书记的重要文章《前瞻布局和发展未来产业》。文章强调：“立足客观条件，发挥比较优势，坚持稳中求进、梯度培育，推动我国未来产业发展不断取得新突破。”党中央、国务院高度重视未来产业发展，近年来持续强化顶层设计、出台系列政策，推动未来产业发展呈现良好势头。我们要坚决落实党中央、国务院相关部署，锚定战略目标，围绕系统谋划、技术攻关、企业培育、要素供给、治理体系、开放合作等方面，求突破、务实效，奋力开创未来产业创新发展新局面，为建设现代化产业体系、全面建设社会主义现代化国家提供坚实支撑.
The first section of the article makes the point that it is important to deeply understand the major significance of the forward-looking layout of future industries. It argues that:
“It is a strategic choice for seizing the commanding heights of science and technology and industry, and grasping the initiative in development. History proves that every new future-oriented industry spawned by a scientific and technological revolution is a key variable in reshaping the landscape of international competition. From the 18th to the 19th century, Britain used the steam engine to drive industrial development and achieved a leap in national strength. In the 20th century, the United States took the lead in laying out computers and the Internet, helping it become a superpower. At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is bringing new historical opportunities. Major developed countries have successively elevated the cultivation of future industries to the level of national strategy. The US has incorporated future industries into its legal framework, while the EU has clarified key deployment directions, attempting to lock in advantages during the formation of new technological systems. Facing important historical opportunities and severe external challenges, we must seize the initiative and gain the upper hand. Accelerating the construction of a future-industry system with international competitiveness is both a strategic awareness of adapting to the trend of global transformation and a key support for winning the initiative in future development.” 抢占科技和产业制高点、把握发展主动权的战略选择。历史证明，每一轮科技革命催生的面向未来的新产业，都是重塑国际竞争格局的关键变量。18世纪至19世纪，英国以蒸汽机助推了产业发展，实现国力跃升；20世纪，美国率先布局计算机、互联网，助力其成为超级大国。当前，新一轮科技革命和产业变革带来新的历史机遇，主要发达国家纷纷将培育未来产业上升为国家战略，美国将未来产业纳入法律框架，欧盟明确重点布局方向，试图在新技术体系形成期间锁定优势。面对重要的历史机遇与严峻的外部挑战，我们必须把握主动、赢得先机。加快构建具有国际竞争力的未来产业体系，既是顺应全球变革趋势的战略自觉，也是赢得未来发展主动权的关键支撑.
“It is an inevitable requirement for developing new-quality productive forces and building a modern industrial system. The core of developing new-quality productive forces lies in opening up new tracks and shaping new advantages through innovation. This requires not only using new technologies to drive the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, but also providing source-level supply ‘from 0 to 1’ for future industries. The key to building a modern industrial system lies in forming a configuration in which traditional industries, emerging industries, and future industries complement and reinforce one another. Future industries play an outstanding role in both increasing scale and improving quality, can open up new growth space, and can empower the upgrading of traditional industries. Cultivating future industries is both the source of vitality for the development of new-quality productive forces, and the powerful engine for the continuous upgrading of the modern industrial system. Developing future industries can both continuously empower high-quality development and consolidate the industrial foundation for the comprehensive construction of a socialist modernised country.” 发展新质生产力、建设现代化产业体系的必然要求。发展新质生产力，核心在于以创新开辟新赛道、塑造新优势。这既需要以新技术推动传统产业改造升级，也需要为未来产业提供“从0到1”的源头供给。建设现代化产业体系，关键在于形成传统产业、新兴产业、未来产业相得益彰的格局。未来产业在增量、提质方面具有突出作用，可开辟新增长空间、赋能传统产业升级。培育未来产业，既是新质生产力发展的源头活水，也是现代化产业体系不断升级的强劲引擎。发展未来产业，既能持续赋能高质量发展，也能为全面建设社会主义现代化国家夯实产业基础.
“It is an important support for raising the quality of people’s lives, promoting the all-round development of the person, and of society. Developing future industries is, in the final analysis, about providing more valuable new products and new services for human development and social progress; its ultimate purpose is to serve the people. Over the past period, industries such as mobile internet have grown rapidly, pushing universal information access deep into urban and rural areas, and profoundly changing modes of social interaction and public service. Looking to the future, brain-computer interfaces are expected to assist the rehabilitation of patients with neurological injuries, significantly improving their quality of life; embodied intelligence can provide precise services to elderly groups, optimising elderly-care and nursing models; biomanufacturing will revolutionise pharmaceutical production methods, improving the inclusiveness of medical services. As technologies gradually mature and application scenarios continue to expand, future industries will play a greater role in actively responding to population ageing, optimising the public service system, and enhancing the effectiveness of social governance, continuously enhancing the people’s sense of gain, happiness, and security.” 提高人民生活品质、促进人的全面发展和社会全面进步的重要支撑。发展未来产业，归根到底是为人类发展和社会进步提供更具价值的新产品、新服务，最终目的就是服务人民。过去一段时间以来，移动互联网等产业快速成长，推动信息普惠深入城乡，深刻改变了社会交往与公共服务方式。面向未来，脑机接口有望助力神经损伤患者康复，显著改善生活质量；具身智能可精准服务老年群体，优化养老看护模式；生物制造将革新医药生产方式，提升医疗服务的普惠性。随着技术逐步成熟和应用场景不断拓展，未来产业将在积极应对人口老龄化、优化公共服务体系、提升社会治理效能等方面发挥更大作用，持续增强人民群众的获得感、幸福感、安全感.
The second section argues that “future industries differ from traditional industries and strategic emerging industries; correctly understanding their connotations and characteristics is the prerequisite for finding the right direction of development and clarifying the focal points of our work.”
“Future industries are forward-looking emerging industries driven by frontier technologies and currently at the stage of incubation and emergence or the initial stage of industrialization; their connotations can be grasped from multiple dimensions. From the technological dimension, future industries are rooted in major breakthroughs in basic science and frontier technologies, capable of opening up new fields and new tracks. From the industrial dimension, future industries are mostly at the embryonic or start-up stage of the life cycle, with considerable uncertainty in technological pathways, product forms, and application scenarios, thereby requiring patient cultivation and sustained investment. From the value dimension, future industries carry national strategic needs and the people’s aspirations for a better life, and concern the overall cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation.” 未来产业是由前沿技术驱动、当前处于孕育萌发阶段或产业化初期的前瞻性新兴产业，可以从多个维度把握其内涵。从技术维度看，未来产业根植于基础科学和前沿技术的重大突破，能够开辟新领域、新赛道。从产业维度看，未来产业多处于生命周期的萌芽期或起步期，技术路线、产品形态、应用场景均存在较大不确定性，需要耐心培育、持续投入。从价值维度看，未来产业承载着国家战略需求与人民对美好生活的向往，事关强国建设、民族复兴大局.
“In terms of characteristics, the forward-looking nature of future industries requires that we treat the development of future industries as long-term strategic work, place it within the construction of the modern industrial system for long-term planning, and use a long-term perspective to discern the directions of development over the next 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, or even longer, laying out a systematic deployment in advance. The strategic nature of future industries means that they concern the country’s long-term development and position in international competitiveness. They are strategic terrain that must be firmly grasped and contested. Whoever gains the initiative in these fields will be able to command the initiative in future global competition. The disruptive nature of future industries is reflected in the fact that once frontier technologies or new industrial forms achieve breakthroughs, they may exert a revolutionary impact on existing industrial systems, bringing about substantial increases in production efficiency, significant reductions in production costs, or giving rise to entirely new forms of products and services, thereby reshaping the ways people produce and live.” 从特征上看，未来产业的前瞻性，要求我们将发展未来产业作为长期的战略工作，放在现代化产业体系建设中进行长期谋划，以长远眼光洞察未来5年、10年、20年甚至更长时期的发展方向，提前系统布局。未来产业的战略性，意味着其关系国家长远发展和国际竞争力位势，是必须牢牢把握的战略必争之地，谁能在其中占据先机，谁就能在未来的全球竞争中掌握主动。未来产业的颠覆性，体现为前沿技术或新产业形态一旦突破，可能对现有产业体系产生革命性影响，带来生产效率的大幅提升、生产成本的大幅下降，或催生全新的产品与服务形态，从而重塑人们的生产生活方式.
The third section outlines China’s advantages/strengths in regard to future industries.
Top-level design is becoming increasingly complete. China has positioned future industries as an important component of building the modern industrial system, continuously strengthening overall planning and systematic deployment. The Outline of the 15th FYP proposed the ‘forward-looking deployment of future industries’. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with seven other departments, jointly issued the Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovative Development of Future Industries, systematically planning six major directions: quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy and fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and 6G, while also taking the lead in deploying tracks such as space manufacturing, atomic-level manufacturing, and terahertz technologies. A series of specialised support policies in key fields has been rolled out around technological breakthroughs, the cultivation of principal actors, and scenario demonstration. About 20 provinces have issued documents related to future industries, and provinces and municipalities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Zhejiang have explored the establishment of a number of future-industry pilot zones. A regional layout of future industries characterized by distinctive features and innovation leadership is being accelerated. 顶层设计日趋完善。我国将未来产业作为建设现代化产业体系的重要部分，持续强化统筹谋划和系统布局。“十五五”规划纲要提出“前瞻布局未来产业”。工业和信息化部等七部门联合印发《关于推动未来产业创新发展的实施意见》，系统规划了未来制造、未来信息、未来材料、未来能源、未来空间和未来健康六大方向。我们重点布局了量子科技、生物制造、氢能和核聚变能、脑机接口、具身智能、6G等关键赛道，也抢先布局太空制造、原子级制造、太赫兹等赛道。围绕技术攻关、主体培育、场景示范等方面出台一批重点领域专项支持政策。同时，各地积极谋划未来产业布局，约20个省份出台未来产业相关文件，北京、上海、浙江等省市探索建成一批未来产业先导区，特色鲜明、创新引领的未来产业区域布局正加速构建.
Breakthroughs in frontier scientific and technological innovation. By conducting ‘open competition for talent’ on future-industry innovation tasks, the acceleration of breakthroughs in key core technologies has been promoted. At present, multiple future-industry directions have achieved landmark results. Superconducting quantum computers and photonic quantum computers have achieved verification of quantum advantage; prototypes of atomic clocks, magnetometers, and other instruments based on new-type quantum technologies have been successfully developed. Biomanufacturing technologies have been widely applied in industries such as pharmaceuticals and health, daily chemicals and cosmetics, and green energy. Brain-computer interface applications are rapidly expanding from the medical field into education, industry, and other sectors. Humanoid robots have acquired full industrial-chain manufacturing capabilities, and domestically produced robots have surpassed the men’s half-marathon record. Annual sales of key products such as single-atom catalytic materials and atomic-level manufacturing equipment have exceeded 10 billion yuan. The overall level of laser manufacturing technology has entered the first tier internationally. Technologies involving perovskite materials, permanent magnet materials, and power batteries have reached internationally advanced levels. 前沿科技创新突破。通过开展未来产业创新任务“揭榜挂帅”，推动关键核心技术加快突破。当前，多个未来产业方向取得标志性成果。超导量子计算机、光量子计算机实现量子优越性验证，基于新型量子技术的原子钟、磁力仪等样机研制成功；生物制造技术在医药健康、日化美妆、绿色能源等行业实现广泛应用；脑机接口应用正从医疗领域向教育、工业等领域加速拓展；人形机器人已具备全产业链制造能力，国产机器人超越人类男子半马纪录；单原子催化材料、原子级制造装备等重点产品年销售额突破百亿元；激光制造技术整体水平跻身国际第一梯队；钙钛矿材料、永磁材料、动力电池等技术达到国际先进水平.
Enterprise cultivation has achieved significant results. The ranks of leading technology enterprises and high-tech enterprises continue to expand. As of now, China has 509,000 high-and-new technology enterprises, which have mastered a batch of key core technologies in future-industry fields, such as quantum science and technology, AI, biomanufacturing, and brain-computer interfaces, and have become a vital force of industrial innovation. The clusters of ‘specialised, refined, differentiated, and innovative’ ‘Little Giants’ enterprises and unicorn enterprises are emerging at an accelerated pace. A total of more than 17,000 ‘specialised, refined, differentiated, and innovative’ ‘Little Giants’ enterprises have been cultivated; in future-industry fields such as AI, embodied intelligence, biotechnology, and controllable nuclear fusion, an outstanding batch of unicorn enterprises has emerged in concentrated fashion; future-industry start-up enterprises represented by the ‘Six Little Dragons of Hangzhou’ are coming to the fore in global competition. 企业培育成效显著。科技领军企业和高新技术企业梯队不断壮大。截至目前，我国高新技术企业达50.9万家，在量子科技、人工智能、生物制造、脑机接口等未来产业领域掌握一批关键核心技术，成为产业创新的有生力量。专精特新“小巨人”企业和独角兽企业群体加速涌现。累计培育专精特新“小巨人”企业超1.7万家，在人工智能、具身智能、生物技术、可控核聚变等未来产业领域集中涌现出一批优秀独角兽企业，以“杭州六小龙”企业为代表的未来产业领域初创企业在全球竞争中崭露头角.
The factor environment is being continuously optimised. Focusing on key factors such as standards and capital, the layout is being continuously optimised, providing strong support for the cultivation and development of future industries. Relying on industrial alliance platforms in fields such as atomic-scale manufacturing, laser manufacturing, and brain-computer interfaces, the advantageous resources of industry, academia, research, and application are being integrated, and the collaborative innovation capability of the industrial chain is being continuously raised. The construction of standards systems for future industries such as quantum information, biomanufacturing, and future displays is being coordinated and advanced, consolidating the foundation for industrial development. Important events such as the Future Industries Innovation and Development Forum of the Zhongguancun Forum annual meeting are being held, building international exchange platforms for future industries, gathering global innovation resources and consolidating consensus on industrial development, and promoting the formation of a good development ecosystem of cross-domain integration and open collaboration. 要素环境持续优化。聚焦标准、资本等关键要素，持续优化布局，有力支撑未来产业培育发展。依托原子级制造、激光制造、脑机接口等领域的产业联盟平台，整合产学研用优势资源，不断提升产业链协同创新能力。统筹推进量子信息、生物制造、未来显示等未来产业标准体系建设，夯实产业发展基础。举办中关村论坛年会未来产业创新发展论坛等重要活动，搭建未来产业国际化交流平台，汇聚全球创新资源、凝聚产业发展共识，推动形成跨界融合、开放协同的良好发展生态.
The final section calls to “strive to open up a new situation in the development of future industries.” It says:
“Cultivating and developing future industries is a long-term and strategic task. At present, frontier technologies in fields such as energy, biology, and information are continuously emerging, exhibiting a trend of accelerated breakthroughs, cross-disciplinary integration, and collective leaps forward, and are leading and supporting the incubation and growth of future industries. Strategic competition among the world’s major economies surrounding future industries is becoming increasingly intense. Through measures such as increasing R&D investment to break through frontier technology barriers, optimizing visa policies and introducing incentive programs to attract top talent worldwide, and actively embedding one’s own technological pathways into international standards systems, countries are driving escalating competition in technological innovation, talent acquisition, and leadership over standards. China’s cultivation and development of future industries is continuously moving toward what is new and what is good, and certain first-mover advantages have already been formed in key fields. However, problems remain, including the need to strengthen original innovation capabilities, dependence on others in certain key core technologies, the need to further improve the innovation ecosystem, and institutional and mechanism-related obstacles, which need to be removed. We must engage in systematic planning, scientific deployment, and solid implementation, continuously achieving new breakthroughs in the development of future industries. 培育发展未来产业是一项长期性、战略性任务。当前，能源、生物、信息等领域前沿技术不断涌现，呈现加速突破、交叉融合和群体跃升态势，正引领并支撑未来产业孕育成长。世界主要经济体围绕未来产业的战略博弈日趋激烈，通过加大研发投入突破前沿技术壁垒、优化签证并出台奖励计划在全球范围抢抓顶尖人才、积极将自身技术路线嵌入国际标准体系等方式，推动技术创新、人才争夺、标准主导权竞争不断升级。我国未来产业培育发展持续向新向好，重点领域已形成一定先发优势，但存在原始创新能力有待加强、关键核心技术受制于人、创新生态需进一步完善、体制机制障碍有待破除等问题。我们必须系统谋划、科学布局、扎实推进，不断取得未来产业发展新突破.
Li then outlines five priorities:
Strengthen overall planning and forward-looking layout. Adhere to the principle of ‘the entire country being one chessboard’, elevate the strategic positioning of future industries, strengthen inter-departmental coordination, and form policy synergy. Focusing on the main directions of attack during the 15th FYP period, improve mechanisms for technological foresight, forecasting, and survey, and strengthen the exploration of multiple technological pathways. Comprehensively considering national strategic needs, the degree of technological maturity, and conditions of factor support, scientifically conduct the forward-looking layout of future industries. Advance the construction of future-industry pilot zones in an orderly manner, and building on regional resource endowments, guide localities to develop according to local conditions and on differentiated tracks. 加大统筹谋划和前瞻布局。坚持全国一盘棋，提升未来产业战略定位，加强部门协同，形成政策合力。聚焦“十五五”时期主攻方向，健全技术预见预测和调查机制，加强多元技术路线探索。综合考量国家战略需求、技术成熟程度、要素支撑条件，科学做好未来产业前瞻布局。有序推进未来产业先导区建设，立足区域资源禀赋，引导各地因地制宜、错位发展.
Strengthen breakthroughs in frontier technology and source-supply. Give full play to the advantages of the new-type whole-nation system (新型举国体制), persist in the principle of ‘industry sets the questions, science and technology provides the answers’, and continuously raise the speed, breadth, and depth of future-industry development through scientific and technological breakthroughs. Systematically lay out original and leading technological breakthroughs, and promote breakthroughs in key core technologies in priority fields. Continuously deploy ‘open competition for talent’ tasks, and accelerate the conquest of a batch of chokepoint technologies. Build an innovation consortium that deeply integrates industry, academia, research, and application; integrate the innovation resources of universities, scientific research institutes, and leading enterprises; and form the combined force of coordinated breakthrough. Lay out and build a batch of proof-of-concept centres and pilot-scale platforms, promoting scientific and technological results to move from the laboratory to the production line. Conduct large-scale application demonstrations of new technologies, new products, and new scenarios; push the industrialised application of new technologies and new products; and promote the seamless connection of the innovation chain and the industrial chain. 加强前沿技术突破和源头供给。充分发挥新型举国体制优势，坚持“产业出题、科技答题”，通过科技突破不断提升未来产业发展的速度、广度、深度。系统布局原创性、引领性技术攻关，推动重点领域关键核心技术突破。持续部署“揭榜挂帅”攻关任务，加快攻克一批“卡脖子”技术。构建产学研用深度融合的创新联合体，整合高校、科研院所、龙头企业创新资源，形成协同攻关合力。布局建设一批概念验证中心和中试平台，促进科技成果从实验室走向生产线。开展新技术新产品新场景大规模应用示范，推动新技术、新产品产业化应用，促进创新链、产业链无缝对接。
Strengthen the tiered cultivation of enterprises and their integrated development. Give play to the principal role of enterprises, drive various innovation resources to converge on enterprises, and stimulate enterprises’ vitality for innovation and creation. Improve the tiered cultivation system for quality enterprises; support leading technology enterprises to develop and grow stronger; continuously expand ‘specialised, refined, differentiated, and innovative SMEs and high-and-new technology enterprises; newly cultivate a batch of ‘Little Giants’ enterprises and single-product manufacturing champions; and support the development of unicorn enterprises and gazelle enterprises. Strengthen the integrated development of large, medium, and small enterprises; accelerate the circulation and sharing of factor resources; promote coordinated innovation across the upper and lower reaches of the industrial chain; and lead and drive future industries to advance into frontier and high-end domains. 强化企业梯度培育和融通发展。发挥企业主体作用，推动各类创新资源向企业集聚，激发企业创新创造活力。健全优质企业梯度培育体系，支持科技领军企业发展壮大，持续壮大专精特新中小企业和高新技术企业，新培育一批“小巨人”企业和制造业单项冠军企业，支持独角兽企业、瞪羚企业发展。强化大中小企业融通发展，加速要素资源流通共享，促进产业链上下游协同创新，引领带动未来产业向前沿和高端领域迈进.
Optimise modes of capital support and the supply of talent. Establish mechanisms for investment growth and risk-sharing for future industries. Given the characteristics of long cultivation cycles and high market risk in future industries, explore funding-support modes that encourage innovation and tolerate failure. Give full play to the role of government investment funds, the national industry-finance cooperation platform, and other such instruments, and intensify financial support. Develop the system of science and technology financial services, innovate financial support tools, attract social capital to participate in early-stage investment, and guide patient capital to invest early, invest small, and invest in hard tech. Deeply implement the manufacturing talent support programme, accelerate the introduction and cultivation of multi-disciplinary cross-cutting talent and high-skill talent, and conduct all-dimensional work on the cultivation, introduction, and deployment of talent. Guide universities to optimise the construction of academic disciplines, and forge a high-level team of industrial science and technology innovation talents. 优化资本支持方式和人才供给。建立未来产业投入增长和风险分担机制，针对未来产业培育周期长、市场风险大的特点，探索鼓励创新、宽容失败的资金支持方式。充分发挥政府投资基金、国家产融合作平台等作用，加大金融支持力度。发展科技金融服务体系，创新金融支持工具，吸引社会资本参与早期投资，引导耐心资本投早、投小、投硬科技。深入实施制造业人才支持计划，加快多学科交叉人才和高技能人才引育，全方位做好人才培养、引进、使用工作。引导高校优化学科建设，打造高水平产业科技创新人才队伍.
Improve the governance system and deepen openness and cooperation. Coordinate development and security, encourage localities to explore inclusive and prudent regulatory models, and ensure that the development of future industries is both ‘allowed to flourish dynamically’ and ‘well regulated’. Improve the system of laws and regulations, perfect ethical norms and standards, and guard against risks in technology application and industrial development.Actively participate in and lead the formulation of international standards and rules, push for the joint construction and sharing of standards, promote the joint discussion and joint observance of rules, and raise our international discursive power. Deepen international exchanges and cooperation, push for mutually-reinforcing and win-win industrial development, and forge high grounds of open innovation. Proactively integrate into global industrial chains, supply chains, and value chains; deepen production-capacity cooperation with countries jointly building the Belt and Road; and jointly build a batch of industrial parks with international influence. 健全治理体系和深化开放合作。统筹发展和安全，鼓励地方探索包容审慎监管模式，确保未来产业发展既“放得活”又“管得好”。完善法律法规体系，健全伦理规范标准，防范技术应用与产业发展风险。积极参与引领国际标准和规则制定，推动标准共建共享，促进规则共商共守，提升国际话语权。深化国际交流合作，推动产业互促共赢，打造开放创新高地。主动融入全球产业链、供应链、价值链，深化与共建“一带一路”国家产能合作，共建一批具有国际影响力的产业园区.