Promoting High-Quality Development of the Private Economy Guided by Innovation

At the symposium on private enterprises, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that private enterprises and entrepreneurs must “unswervingly take the path of high-quality development, stick to their main business, strengthen the real economy, enhance independent innovation, transform development models, continuously improve enterprise quality, efficiency, and core competitiveness, and strive to make greater contributions to promoting scientific and technological innovation, fostering new quality productive forces, building a modern industrial system, comprehensively advancing rural revitalization, promoting coordinated regional development, and ensuring and improving people’s livelihoods.” Since reform and opening up, the private economy, with its strong innovation vitality, has played an important role in economic and social development. In the future, as policies continue to exert force and the market environment is constantly optimized, the private economy will surely make greater contributions in independent innovation, fostering new quality productive forces, and promoting high-quality development.

习近平总书记在民营企业座谈会上强调，广大民营企业和民营企业家“要坚定不移走高质量发展之路，坚守主业、做强实业，加强自主创新，转变发展方式，不断提高企业质量、效益和核心竞争力，努力为推动科技创新、培育新质生产力、建设现代化产业体系、全面推进乡村振兴、促进区域协调发展、保障和改善民生等多作贡献”。改革开放以来，民营经济以其强大的创新活力，在经济社会发展中发挥着重要作用。未来，随着政策持续发力和市场环境的不断优化，民营经济必将在自主创新、培育新质生产力、推动高质量发展中作出更大贡献。

I.

一

China’s private enterprises have flourished alongside the great course of reform and opening up. Over the past decades, the private economy has made indelible contributions to promoting innovation and development.

我国的民营企业是伴随着改革开放伟大历程蓬勃发展起来的，几十年来，民营经济在推动创新发展方面功不可没。

Private enterprises have accelerated the enhancement of the international influence of “Intelligent Manufacturing in China.” Private enterprises are an important pillar of China’s foreign trade. Since 2019, private enterprises have become the largest foreign trade entities in China, with their international competitiveness continuously improving. In particular, the “innovation” content of private enterprises’ export products has been rising, high-tech products are going overseas faster, and exports of electric vehicles, 3D printers, and industrial robots grew by 13.1%, 32.8%, and 45.2% year on year respectively. The share of independent brands has risen to 21.8%. With the continuous improvement of private enterprises’ innovation capabilities, domestic trendy brands have sparked a “Chinese trend” around the world.

民营企业加速提升“中国智造”国际影响力。民营企业是我国外贸的重要支柱，自2019年起，民营企业成为我国第一大外贸经营主体，国际竞争力持续提升。尤其是，民营企业外贸出口的含“新”量不断上升，高科技产品加速出海，电动汽车、3D打印机、工业机器人的出口分别同比增长13.1%、32.8%、45.2%，自主品牌占比提升到21.8%，随着民营企业创新能力的不断提升，国货潮牌在世界各地刮起了“中国风”。

Private enterprises have helped China shift from being a “follower” in innovation to being a “leader.” Private enterprises play an active and important role in promoting international scientific and technological cooperation. From boosting global green transformation and making e-commerce accessible to users worldwide, to technology enterprises adopting a “low cost + high performance + open source” strategy that attracts global developers to participate in technology iteration, private enterprises are gradually moving from being global “technology appliers” to “outcome sharers,” helping China shift from a “technology imitator” to a “global innovation source.”

民营企业助推我国从创新“追赶者”转向创新“引领者”。民营企业在促进国际科技合作中发挥着积极而重要的作用。从助推全球绿色转型、电子商务普惠世界用户，到科技企业的“低成本+高性能+开源”策略吸引全球开发者参与技术迭代等，民营企业逐步从全球“技术应用者”迈向“成果分享者”，助力我国从“技术模仿者”迈向“全球创新策源地”。

Private enterprises play a key role in cultivating and developing new quality productive forces. In key areas such as scientific and technological innovation, the digital economy, and the green economy, private enterprises have demonstrated strong innovation capabilities and market vitality, effectively promoting the high-end, intelligent, and green development of industries. Especially in strategic emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, new energy, and biomedicine, private enterprises are gradually becoming a critical force for industrial innovation and development. This is the result of the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation in China, and it is also a vivid manifestation of the resilience and creativity of China’s economy.

民营企业在培育和发展新质生产力中发挥关键作用。民营企业在科技创新、数字经济、绿色经济等关键领域展现了强大创新能力和市场活力，有效推动产业高端化、智能化、绿色化发展。尤其是在人工智能、大数据、云计算、新能源、生物医药等战略性新兴产业，民营企业逐步成为产业创新发展的关键力量。这是我国促进科技创新和产业创新深度融合的结果，也是我国经济韧性与创造力的生动体现。

II.

二

Currently, the environment for private enterprises to achieve innovation-driven development is increasingly favorable, with multiple advantages in policy, market, talent, and other areas.

当前，我国民营企业实现创新发展的环境愈加良好，具有政策、市场、人才等方面的多重优势。

Policy support is an important prerequisite for private enterprises to achieve innovation-driven development. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC[1]1 Refers to the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in 2012, which marked a new stage in the Party’s leadership and introduced the concept of comprehensively deepening reform., the state has introduced a series of policies such as tax and fee reductions, preferential loans, and entrepreneurship support to promote the development of private enterprises, providing a favorable development environment. After the release of the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy[2]2 A policy document issued in July 2023 by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council aimed at promoting the development and growth of the private economy. in July 2023, various localities and departments have issued a series of policy measures intensively. With the continuous implementation and effectiveness of reform measures such as building a unified national market and market-based allocation of factors, private enterprises have entered a new stage of innovation-driven development, and will surely make greater contributions to advancing Chinese-path modernization.

政策支持是民营企业实现创新发展的重要前提。党的十八大以来，国家出台了一系列减税降费、优惠贷款、创业扶持等支持民营企业发展的政策，为民营企业提供了良好发展环境。2023年7月《中共中央 国务院关于促进民营经济发展壮大的意见》发布后，各地各部门一系列政策举措密集出台。随着全国统一大市场建设、要素市场化配置等改革举措持续落地见效，民营企业创新发展进入一个新的阶段，必将为推进中国式现代化作出更大贡献。

New supply and new demand provide broad room for growth for private enterprises. China’s economic foundation is stable, with many advantages, strong resilience, and great potential. The strong domestic demand market of over 1.4 billion people and a middle-income group of over 400 million provides private enterprises with broad application scenarios for rapid technological iteration. The new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation brings new opportunities for private enterprises to accelerate innovation and upgrading. The continuous emergence of innovation achievements in fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and life sciences, and the continuous improvement of the overall effectiveness of China’s innovation system, all provide broader space for private enterprises to achieve innovation-driven development.

新供给新需求为民营企业发展提供广阔成长空间。我国经济基础稳、优势多、韧性强、潜能大，14亿多人口、中等收入群体超4亿的强大内需市场，为民营企业技术快速迭代提供了广阔的应用场景支持。新一轮科技革命和产业变革为民营企业加快创新升级带来新机遇，人工智能、量子技术、生命科学等领域创新成果的不断涌现，我国创新体系整体效能的不断提升，都为民营企业实现创新发展提供了更加广阔的空间。

The continuous supply of talent resources provides strong support for private enterprises to achieve innovation-driven development. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the average years of education of China’s working-age population rose to 11.05 years in 2023, with over 5 million graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics each year. The total talent resources, scientific and technological human resources, and R&D personnel all rank first in the world. The “demographic dividend” is accelerating its transformation into a “talent dividend.” The large reserve of outstanding scientific research talents strongly supports the scientific and technological innovation activities of private enterprises.

源源不断的人才资源为民营企业实现创新发展提供强力支撑。国家统计局数据显示，2023年我国劳动年龄人口平均受教育年限提升至11.05年，每年科学、技术、工程、数学专业毕业生数量超500万，人才资源总量、科技人力资源、研发人员总量均居全球首位，“人口红利”正在加快向“人才红利”转化。大量的优秀科研人才储备有力支撑了民营企业的科技创新活动。

Entrepreneurship strongly drives technological change in private enterprises. China’s private entrepreneurs possess strong entrepreneurial spirit and innovation capabilities. With acute market insight, perseverance, and a willingness to take risks, they focus on technological R&D and innovation, continuously launch new products, new technologies, and new services, actively explore new business fields, meet market demand, promote market development and industrial transformation, and continuously enhance their competitiveness and contribution to society in a fiercely competitive market.

企业家精神强力助推民营企业科技变革。我国的民营企业家具备较强的创业精神和创新能力，他们以敏锐市场洞察力和坚忍不拔、勇于冒险的意识，注重科技研发和技术创新，不断推出新产品、新技术和新服务，积极开拓新商业领域，满足市场的需求，推动市场发展和产业变革，在竞争激烈的市场中不断提升竞争力和对社会的贡献度。

III.

三

Solidly implementing various policy measures to promote the innovation-driven development of the private economy is the current focus of work to better enable private enterprises to achieve innovation-driven development.

扎实落实促进民营经济创新发展的各项政策措施，是当前促进民营企业更好实现创新发展的工作重点。

Further create a favorable environment for the development of private enterprises. Resolutely remove various obstacles for private enterprises to legally use factors of production and participate in market competition fairly, and continue to promote the fair opening of competitive infrastructure areas to all types of business entities. Guide private economic organizations to strengthen basic and frontier research, develop key core technologies, common basic technologies, and frontier cross-cutting technologies in accordance with national strategic needs, industry development trends, and world technology frontiers, and encourage the use of scientific and technological innovation to spawn new industries, new models, and new drivers. Support capable private enterprises to undertake major national science and technology projects, and take the lead in undertaking research tasks in fields such as industrial software, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, the industrial internet, gene and cell medicine, and new energy storage.

为民营企业发展进一步营造良好环境。坚决破除民营企业依法使用生产要素、公平参与市场竞争的各种障碍，持续推进基础设施竞争性领域向各类经营主体公平开放。引导民营经济组织根据国家战略需要、行业发展趋势和世界科技前沿，加强基础性、前沿性研究，开发关键核心技术、共性基础技术和前沿交叉技术，鼓励以科技创新催生新产业、新模式、新动能。支持有能力的民营企业承担国家重大科技项目，牵头承担工业软件、云计算、人工智能、工业互联网、基因和细胞医疗、新型储能等领域的攻关任务。

Further solve the problem of difficult and expensive financing for private enterprises. Improve the financing support policy system for private enterprises, and improve the market-based risk-sharing mechanism for financing involving banks, insurance, guarantees, securities firms, and other parties. Improve the credit rating and evaluation system for micro, small and medium enterprises and self-employed individuals, strengthen the collection of enterprise-related credit information, and support eligible private enterprises in listing financing and refinancing. Guide non-profit funds to legally fund private economic organizations to carry out basic research, frontier technology research, and socially beneficial technology research.

进一步解决民营企业融资难融资贵问题。完善民营企业融资支持政策制度，健全银行、保险、担保、券商等多方共同参与的融资风险市场化分担机制。健全中小微企业和个体工商户信用评级和评价体系，加强涉企信用信息归集，支持符合条件的民营企业上市融资和再融资。引导非营利性基金依法资助民营经济组织开展基础研究、前沿技术研究和社会公益性技术研究。

Strengthen the application and promotion of achievements and intellectual property protection. Increase the procurement of innovative products by the government, give play to the role of the first-set (unit) insurance compensation mechanism[3]3 A policy mechanism that provides insurance compensation for the first application of new equipment (the “first set” of a type), encouraging enterprises to innovate and adopt new products., and support the iterative application of innovative products of private enterprises. Support private economic organizations in conducting application experiments on new technologies, new products, new services, and new models, leverage the role of technology markets and intermediary service institutions, and promote the application and promotion of scientific and technological achievements through intellectual property pledge, venture capital, and other means. Strengthen the protection of original innovations of private economic organizations and their operators, and punish in accordance with the law illegal acts such as infringement of trademark rights, patent rights, copyrights, trade secret infringement, and counterfeiting and confusion. Strengthen regional and departmental collaboration in intellectual property protection, and provide private economic organizations with diversified intellectual property dispute resolution, rights protection assistance, and overseas intellectual property dispute response guidance and risk warning services.

加强成果应用推广和知识产权保护。加大政府采购创新产品力度，发挥首台（套）保险补偿机制作用，支持民营企业创新产品迭代应用。支持民营经济组织开展新技术、新产品、新服务、新模式应用试验，发挥技术市场、中介服务机构作用，通过知识产权质押、创业投资等方式推动科技成果应用推广。加强对民营经济组织及其经营者原始创新保护，依法惩处侵犯商标权、专利权、著作权和侵犯商业秘密、仿冒混淆等违法行为。加强知识产权保护的区域、部门协作，为民营经济组织提供知识产权多元纠纷解决、维权援助以及海外知识产权纠纷应对指导和风险预警等服务。

(Author: Zhang Jin, Researcher at the Research Center for Xi Jinping Economic Thought)

（作者：张瑾，系习近平经济思想研究中心研究员）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧