Consolidating the Foundational and Strategic Support for the Development of New Quality Productive Forces

The proposal for the 15th Five-Year Plan [1], reviewed and approved at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, makes a dedicated chapter arrangement around "accelerating high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening to lead the development of new quality productive forces" and puts forward a series of clear requirements for "integratively advancing the development of education, science and technology, and talent." The 2025 Central Economic Work Conference emphasized "developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions" and "formulating a plan for integratively advancing the development of education, science and technology, and talent." Currently and for a period to come, how to coordinate and advance the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent, and to consolidate the foundational and strategic support for the development of new quality productive forces, is a theoretical and practical issue that urgently needs to be addressed.

党的二十届四中全会审议通过的“十五五”规划建议，围绕“加快高水平科技自立自强，引领发展新质生产力”作出专章部署，对“一体推进教育科技人才发展”提出一系列明确要求。2025年中央经济工作会议强调，“因地制宜发展新质生产力”“制定一体推进教育科技人才发展方案”。当前和今后一个时期，如何统筹推进教育科技人才一体发展，筑牢新质生产力发展的基础性、战略性支撑，是亟待回答好的理论和实践课题。

Productive forces are the fundamental driving force of human social development. Currently, China is in an important period of accelerated transformation of old and new growth drivers. A new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is advancing in depth, and the global industrial system and the industrial chain and supply chain system are accelerating their restructuring, containing enormous development opportunities. Against this backdrop, General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively put forward the important concept of new quality productive forces and the major task of developing new quality productive forces, and made a series of important expositions on what new quality productive forces are and how to develop them. These have significant guiding significance and provide scientific guidance for promoting high-quality development.

生产力是人类社会发展的根本动力。当前，我国正处于新旧动能转换加快的重要时期，新一轮科技革命和产业变革纵深推进，全球产业体系和产业链供应链体系加速重构，蕴含着巨大的发展机遇。在此背景下，习近平总书记创造性地提出新质生产力这个重要概念和发展新质生产力这个重大任务，围绕什么是新质生产力、如何发展新质生产力作出一系列重要论述，具有重大指导意义，为推动高质量发展提供了科学指引。

High-quality development requires new theories on productive forces to guide it. New quality productive forces are an advanced state of productive forces that conforms to the new development philosophy. The process of cultivating new quality productive forces is also a process of the leap in the quality of laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor, as well as their modes of combination. That is, laborers transition from "physical type" to "intelligent type," means of labor transform from "mechanical tools" to "digital-intelligent platforms," and objects of labor expand from "material resources" to "data elements." New quality productive forces are mainly brought about by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, and scientific and technological innovation is the core element for developing new quality productive forces. This means that cultivating new quality productive forces must accelerate original and disruptive scientific and technological innovation to achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening. Historical experience shows that countries that seized the opportunities of scientific and technological revolutions to achieve modernization were all those with a strong scientific foundation; countries that seized the opportunities of scientific and technological revolutions to become world powers were all those in a leading position in important scientific and technological fields. At present, new quality productive forces have already taken shape in practice and demonstrated a strong driving and supporting force for high-quality development, driving the development and nurturing of a number of emerging and future industries.

高质量发展需要新的生产力理论来指导。新质生产力是符合新发展理念的先进生产力质态，培育新质生产力的过程，也是劳动者、劳动资料、劳动对象及其组合方式跃升的过程，即劳动者从“体力型”向“智能型”过渡，劳动资料从“机械工具”向“数智平台”转型，劳动对象从“物质资源”向“数据要素”扩展。新质生产力主要由技术革命性突破催生而成，科技创新是发展新质生产力的核心要素。这意味着培育新质生产力必须加快推动原创性、颠覆性科技创新，实现高水平科技自立自强。历史经验表明，那些抓住科技革命机遇走向现代化的国家，都是科学基础雄厚的国家；那些抓住科技革命机遇成为世界强国的国家，都是在重要科技领域处于领先行列的国家。目前，新质生产力已经在实践中形成并展示出对高质量发展的强劲推动力、支撑力，带动了一批新兴产业和未来产业的发展和孕育。

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "In accordance with the requirements for developing new quality productive forces, we must smooth the virtuous cycle of education, science and technology, and talent." Education is an important foundation for developing new quality productive forces, providing intellectual support for scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening by cultivating innovative talent; science and technology is the core element for developing new quality productive forces, driving the leap in productive forces through original innovation and breakthroughs in key core technologies; talent is the primary resource for developing new quality productive forces, and its creativity directly determines the depth and breadth of scientific and technological innovation. It must be recognized that currently, there is still a systemic fragmentation among the innovation chain, industrial chain, and talent chain. There are still some pain points and difficulties in the deep integration of education, science and technology, and talent, making it difficult to form an efficient closed-loop innovation ecosystem. Specific manifestations include: barriers to the flow of innovation elements, hindered flow of key resource elements such as talent, knowledge, technology, and data, insufficient cross-domain coordination, and an imperfect mechanism for resource integration and sharing; insufficient depth of industry-education integration, a disconnect between disciplinary program settings and industrial development needs, and the talent chain still struggling to meet industrial innovation needs; the leading role of enterprise innovation has not been fully exerted, with school-enterprise cooperation mostly remaining at the project level and failing to form a long-term collaborative talent cultivation mechanism; and a disconnect between scientific and technological achievements and industrial needs, with blocked channels for achievement transformation, blockages and bottlenecks from basic research to technology development to industrial application, and a large number of scientific research achievements difficult to industrialize due to a lack of pilot platforms, market linkages, and capital support.

习近平总书记指出，“要按照发展新质生产力要求，畅通教育、科技、人才的良性循环”。教育是发展新质生产力的重要基础，通过培养创新型人才为科技自立自强提供智力支持；科技是发展新质生产力的核心要素，通过原始创新和关键核心技术突破驱动生产力跃迁；人才是发展新质生产力的第一资源，其创造力直接决定科技创新的深度与广度。需要看到的是，当前创新链、产业链和人才链之间尚存在系统性割裂，教育科技人才在深度融合方面仍有一些痛点难点，难以形成高效闭环的创新生态。具体表现为：创新要素流动存在壁垒，人才、知识、技术、数据等关键资源要素流动受阻和跨域协同不足，资源整合与共享机制不健全；产教融合深度不足，学科专业设置与产业发展需求脱节，人才链建设还难以满足产业创新需求；企业创新引领作用尚未充分发挥，校企合作大多停留在项目层面，未能形成长效协同育人机制；科技成果与产业需求存在脱节，成果转化通道不畅，从基础研究到技术开发再到产业应用存在堵点卡点，大量科研成果因缺乏中试平台、市场衔接和资本支持而难以实现产业化。

In practice, we must fully understand and closely integrate the connotation and characteristics of new quality productive forces, continuously enhance the consistency of goals and the coupling of elements in the development of education, science and technology, and talent, transform the compartmentalized, fragmented, and singular development model of education, science and technology, and talent, coordinate the construction of a strong educational country, a strong scientific and technological country, and a strong talent country, adhere to the integrated advancement of education, science and technology, and talent, promote the formation of a virtuous cycle of "education cultivates talent—talent promotes innovation—innovation drives development," and jointly support the growth and strengthening of new quality productive forces.

在实践中，必须充分认识和紧密结合新质生产力的内涵特征，持续增强教育、科技、人才发展的目标一致性和要素耦合性，转变教育、科技、人才三者条块化、分散化、单一化的发展模式，统筹教育强国、科技强国、人才强国建设，坚持教育、科技、人才一体化推进，推动形成“教育培养人才—人才推动创新—创新驱动发展”的良性循环，共同支撑新质生产力发展壮大。

Do a good job in top-level design. Strengthen forward-looking thinking, overall planning, strategic layout, and holistic advancement for the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent; coordinate the implementation of the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, the strategy of strengthening the country through talent, and the innovation-driven development strategy; establish and improve coordination mechanisms for integratively advancing the development of education, science and technology, and talent; and promote the establishment of relevant deliberative and coordinating bodies. Strengthen policy support and project funding, build an innovation service system for the integrated allocation of elements such as funds, talent, projects, and platforms, and attract more social capital to invest in the fields of education, science and technology, and talent, helping to form a development pattern where the three promote each other. Accelerate the legislative process in key areas, clarifying the responsibilities and obligations for innovation platform construction, innovation entity cultivation, and innovation achievement transformation.

做好顶层设计。加强对教育科技人才一体化发展的前瞻性思考、全局性谋划、战略性布局、整体性推进，统筹实施科教兴国战略、人才强国战略、创新驱动发展战略，建立健全一体推进教育科技人才发展的协调机制，推动设立相关工作的议事协调机构。加强政策支持与项目资助，构建资金、人才、项目、平台等要素一体化配置的创新服务体系，吸引更多社会资本投入教育、科技、人才领域，助力形成三者相互促进的发展格局。加快推进重点领域立法进程，明确创新平台建设、创新主体培育、创新成果转化等方面的责任义务。

Strengthen coordination and integration. Support and encourage higher education institutions, scientific research institutes, and leading enterprises to form innovation consortia, and create a collaborative innovation ecosystem for the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent through methods such as cooperative education, joint laboratories, and R&D centers. Make full use of mechanisms such as "open competition to select the best candidates" and "horse racing system" [2]. Through cross-departmental, cross-system, and cross-level organizational coordination methods, reasonably and orderly delegate the decision-making power over technical routes, the power to allocate research funds, and the power to dispatch resources, fully stimulating the initiative and creativity of innovation entities. Establish a dynamic disciplinary adjustment mechanism, strengthen the construction of basic disciplines, emerging disciplines, and interdisciplinary disciplines and the cultivation of top-notch talent, deepen the construction of new engineering, new medical science, new agricultural science, and new liberal arts, and strengthen the coordination of science and technology education and humanities education. Broaden talent circulation channels in fields such as education and science and technology, build a "pyramid-type" talent echelon of "young scientific and technological talent—leading scientific and technological talent—strategic scientists," and improve the collaborative talent cultivation mechanism.

强化协同融合。支持鼓励高等院校、科研机构与龙头企业组成创新联合体，以开展合作办学、共建联合实验室以及研发中心等方式，打造教育科技人才一体化发展的协同创新生态系统。充分利用“揭榜挂帅”“赛马制”等机制，通过跨部门、跨系统、跨层级的组织协调方式，将技术路线决定权、科研经费支配权、资源调度权合理有序下放，充分激发创新主体的积极性和创造力。建立动态的学科调整机制，强化基础学科、新兴学科、交叉学科建设和拔尖人才培养，深化新工科、新医科、新农科、新文科建设，强化科技教育和人文教育协同。拓宽教育、科技等领域的人才流通渠道，建设“青年科技人才—科技领军人才—战略科学家”的“金字塔型”人才梯队，完善协同育人机制。

Optimize evaluation models. Promote the establishment of a multi-subject evaluation mechanism combining government assessment, peer review, enterprise evaluation, and social supervision; refine classification standards for research-oriented, application-oriented, skill-oriented, and specialty-oriented types; focus on functions such as talent cultivation, scientific research, social service, and cultural inheritance and innovation; formulate evaluation indicators separately; and generate multiple results such as comprehensive evaluation, benefit evaluation, and value-added evaluation. Resolutely overcome the phenomena of only focusing on scores, only on enrollment rates, only on diplomas, only on papers, and only on titles [3]; highlight an evaluation orientation centered on ability, quality, contribution, and performance; focus on evaluating major achievements, research quality, original breakthroughs, and actual contributions; unify process evaluation and outcome evaluation; combine short-term evaluation and long-term evaluation, qualitative evaluation and quantitative evaluation; and maximize the realization of making the best use of talents, fully utilizing their abilities, and achieving success in their use.

优化评价模式。推动建立政府评估、同行评议、企业评价、社会监督相结合的多元主体评价机制，细化研究型、应用型、技能型、特色型等分类标准，聚焦人才培养、科学研究、社会服务、文化传承与创新等功能，分别制定评价指标，生成综合评价、效益评价、增值评价等多种结果。坚决克服唯分数、唯升学、唯文凭、唯论文、唯帽子等现象，突出以能力、质量、贡献、绩效为核心的评价导向，重点评价重大成果、研究质量、原创突破和实际贡献，把过程评价和结果评价统一起来，短期评价和长期评价、定性评价和定量评价结合起来，最大程度实现人尽其才、才尽其用、用有所成。

(The author is a specially-appointed researcher at the Research Center for Xi

（作者系教育部习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心特约研究员、华中师范大学马克思主义学院教授）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧