Pooling Strengths to Promote the Development of New Quality Productive Forces in Light of Local Conditions

The *Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China* (hereinafter referred to as the *Outline*) takes “developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions” as a principle that must be followed in “adhering to high-quality development,” and makes detailed arrangements regarding the driving forces, formation mechanisms, key areas, and promotion pathways for new quality productive forces. It is necessary to deeply grasp the new requirements set forth in the *Outline*, so as to realize the situation where each region leverages its strengths and combines them into a collective force, thereby promoting major breakthroughs in the development of new quality productive forces in light of local conditions.

《中华人民共和国国民经济和社会发展第十五个五年规划纲要》（以下简称《纲要》）将“因地制宜发展新质生产力”作为“坚持高质量发展”必须遵循的原则，在新质生产力的发展动力、形成机制、重点领域与促进途径等方面进行了详尽部署。必须深入把握《纲要》提出的新要求，实现各展所长、合而成势，推动因地制宜发展新质生产力取得重大突破。

Reasons: Technical characteristics and basic national conditions. The *Outline* takes developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions as an important principle of high-quality development, based, on the one hand, on a judgment of the inherent characteristics of the new generation of science, technology, and industrial development, and, on the other hand, rooted in the basic national condition of significant differences in factor endowments, industrial foundations, and development levels across various regions of China.

原因：技术特征与基本国情。《纲要》将因地制宜发展新质生产力作为高质量发展的一个重要原则，一方面出于对新一代科技与产业发展的内在特征的判断，另一方面根植于中国各地要素禀赋、产业基础与发展水平存在明显差异的基本国情。

The formation of new quality productive forces is a process of qualitative change in productive forces, a qualitative change that comes from the industrial structural leap driven by disruptive technologies. From the perspective of technical characteristics, unlike the general-purpose technologies of the traditional industrial era, the effectiveness of new quality productive forces formed under the impetus of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum technology is highly dependent on industry-specific data resources, industrial application scenarios, and the degree of coupling with the existing local industrial knowledge system. Moreover, unlike traditional technologies oriented toward “force” with relatively fixed input-output parameters, new quality productive forces, with “intelligence” as their core, continuously grow and optimize in application: they gradually develop into a complete system of technological products by relying on industrial application scenarios and form a complementary and symbiotic technological ecosystem through industrial linkages. The industry specificity of data and the tacit accumulation of industrial knowledge determine that the generation of new quality productive forces has the characteristics of scenario-driven, path-dependent, and locally embedded. This means that the maturation of technologies related to new quality productive forces and their industrial implementation and evolution need to rely on the existing industrial base of each region for differentiated exploration; this is also the underlying technical logic for why developing new quality productive forces must be “in light of local conditions.”

新质生产力的形成是一个生产力质变的过程，这种质变来自颠覆性技术推动下的产业结构跃迁。从技术特征看，不同于传统工业时代的通用技术，在人工智能、量子科技等新技术推动下形成的新质生产力，其效能释放高度依赖具有行业专属性的数据资源、产业应用场景以及与本地既有产业知识体系的耦合程度。而且，与以“力”为导向、输入—输出参数相对固定的传统技术不同，以“智”为核心的新质生产力是在应用中不断生长与优化的：它依托产业应用场景逐步发育为完整的技术产品体系，并在产业关联中形成互补共生的技术生态。数据的行业专属性与产业知识的隐性积累性，决定了新质生产力的生成具有场景拉动、路径依赖与地方嵌入的特征。这意味着，新质生产力相关技术的成熟及其产业落地与演化，需要依托各地既有的产业基底进行差异化探索，这也是发展新质生产力必须“因地制宜”的底层技术逻辑。

From the perspective of China’s national conditions, there are significant differences in factor endowments, industrial foundations, and development levels across various regions, which constitute the practical basis for “in light of local conditions.” On the one hand, China’s industrial structure determines that developing new quality productive forces cannot only consider the solo advance of emerging industries. For traditional industries, acting in light of local conditions means leveraging digital-intelligent and green transformation to revitalize existing stock; for strategic emerging industries and future industries, acting in light of local conditions means relying on existing industrial foundations, application scenarios, and innovation ecosystems to optimize and expand increment. On the other hand, China’s regional endowments differ significantly. The eastern coastal regions have relatively complete innovation ecosystems and high concentrations of talent and capital, possessing the conditions to take the lead in breaking through frontier technologies and dominating the layout of strategic emerging industries; the central regions have relatively solid industrial foundations, with broad space for manufacturing transformation, upgrading, and digital-intelligent transformation; the western regions have lower factor costs and abundant characteristic resources, possessing differentiated comparative advantages in specific fields. Acting in light of local conditions allows the potential of each region to be effectively released within the national division of labor pattern.

从中国国情看，各地要素禀赋、产业基础与发展水平存在明显差异，构成了“因地制宜”的现实依据。一方面，中国的产业结构决定了发展新质生产力不能只考虑新兴产业单兵突进。对传统产业而言，因地制宜意味着以数智化、绿色化为牵引盘活存量；对战略性新兴产业和未来产业而言，因地制宜则意味着依托既有的产业基础、应用场景与创新生态做优增量。另一方面，中国区域禀赋差异显著。东部沿海地区创新生态相对完善、人才与资本集聚度高，具备率先突破前沿技术、主导战略性新兴产业布局的条件；中部地区产业基础较为扎实，制造业转型升级与数智化改造的空间广阔；西部地区要素成本较低、特色资源丰富，在特定领域具备差异化的比较优势，因地制宜能让各地的潜力在全国分工格局中得到有效释放。

Purpose: Coordinating the overall situation of high-quality development. Adhering to and implementing the development of new quality productive forces in light of local conditions must also proceed from the overall goal it serves. As a programmatic principle under the rubric of “adhering to high-quality development,” developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions directly serves a series of goals such as strengthening the domestic grand circulation, coordinating the expansion of domestic demand and deepening supply-side structural reform, and accelerating the cultivation of new growth drivers; it is a key lever for promoting sustained and healthy economic development and comprehensive social progress.

目的：统筹高质量发展全局。坚持和落实因地制宜发展新质生产力，还必须从它所服务的整体目标出发。因地制宜发展新质生产力作为“坚持高质量发展”条目下的纲领性原则，直接服务于做强国内大循环、统筹扩大内需和深化供给侧结构性改革、加快培育新动能等一系列目标，是推动经济持续健康发展和社会全面进步的关键抓手。

First, developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions must provide a division-of-labor foundation for strengthening the domestic grand circulation. Stimulating the vitality of the domestic grand circulation depends on each region forming differentiated comparative advantages and functional positions within the national division-of-labor system. If industrial development across regions becomes homogeneous, the domestic circulation will lose its complementarity and expansiveness due to the lack of an internal exchange basis, and may also trigger “involution-style” competition. [1]1 “Involution-style” competition (内卷式竞争) refers to a form of competition where participants intensify efforts without corresponding gains in productivity or innovation, often leading to zero-sum or negative-sum outcomes. For each region to form differentiated development paths for new quality productive forces in light of local conditions is precisely to activate the dividends of division of labor at the micro level and maintain the dynamic tension between a “unified national market” and a “differentiated division-of-labor structure” at the macro level.

首先，因地制宜发展新质生产力，要为做强国内大循环提供分工基础。激发国内大循环的活力有赖于各区域在全国分工体系中形成差异化的比较优势和功能定位。如果各地产业发展同质化，国内循环就会因缺乏内部交换基础而失去互补性和拓展性，也可能引发“内卷式”竞争。各地因地制宜形成差异化新质生产力发展路径，就是要在微观层面激活分工红利，在宏观层面维系“统一大市场”与“差异化分工结构”之间的动态张力。

Second, developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions must also provide structural support for coordinating the expansion of domestic demand and deepening supply-side structural reform. The sustained driving force for expanding domestic demand lies in the precise matching of supply structure and demand structure. When each region develops new quality productive forces in a differentiated manner based on its own endowments, the supply side can form a richer variety of product types and technological levels, thereby meeting the demands of different regions and different levels. Creating new demand with new supply and leading new supply with new demand, in turn, promotes a positive interaction between consumption and investment, and between supply and demand, forming a sustained driving force for endogenous circulation.

其次，因地制宜发展新质生产力，还要为统筹扩大内需和深化供给侧结构性改革提供结构支撑。内需扩大的持久动力，在于供给结构与需求结构的精准匹配。各地依托自身禀赋差异化发展新质生产力，供给侧能形成更丰富的产品种类和技术层次，从而对接不同地区、不同层次的需求。以新供给创造新需求、以新需求引领新供给，进而促进消费和投资、供给和需求良性互动，形成内生循环的持续动力。

Finally, developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions must also provide multiple pathways for accelerating the cultivation of new growth drivers. The formation of new growth drivers cannot be concentrated in a few regions or a few industries, nor can it break through along a single technological route. For each region to explore development paths for new quality productive forces based on its own conditions is essentially to conduct multi-track “experiments” in cultivating growth drivers in parallel across the country: some rely on manufacturing foundations to promote intelligent upgrading, some rely on scenario advantages to incubate emerging applications, and some rely on resource endowments to develop green new energy industries. The parallel advancement of multiple pathways can not only increase the probability of the emergence of new growth drivers but also enhance the overall economy’s resilience against the failure of a single technological route or industrial choice.

最后，因地制宜发展新质生产力，还要为加快培育新动能提供多元路径。新动能的形成不可能集中于少数地区或少数产业，也不可能沿单一技术路线突破。各地立足自身条件探索新质生产力发展路径，本质上是在全国范围内并行开展多轨道的动能培育“实验”：有的依托制造业基础推进智能化升级，有的依托场景优势孵化新兴应用，有的依托资源禀赋发展绿色新能源产业。多元路径并进，既能提高新动能涌现的概率，也能增强整体经济对单一技术路线和产业选择失败的抗冲击能力。

Pathways: Each region leverages its strengths and combines them into a collective force. Regarding how to develop new quality productive forces in light of local conditions, the *Outline* specifies several concrete pathways, the core concept of which is that acting in light of local conditions does not mean each region going its own way, but rather each region leveraging its strengths and combining them into a collective force. Specifically, this includes the following requirements.

途径：各展所长合而成势。对于如何因地制宜发展新质生产力，《纲要》明确了若干具体途径，其核心理念在于，因地制宜不是各行其是，而是各展所长、合而成势。具体来说，包括以下几方面要求。

First, develop related industries in light of local conditions based on existing industrial foundations. The *Outline* clearly states the need to “build strategic emerging industry clusters with distinctive features and complementary advantages in light of local conditions,” and requires all regions to “strengthen and expand characteristic and advantageous industries based on functional positioning, resource endowments, and industrial foundations.” This means that developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions does not require each region to start from scratch, but rather to proceed from each region’s existing industrial accumulation and endowment structure, forming an industrial pattern at the national level that is “distinctive in features and complementary in advantages.”

第一，立足既有产业基础，因地制宜发展相关产业。《纲要》明确提出，要“因地制宜建设各具特色、优势互补的战略性新兴产业集群”，要求各地“立足功能定位、资源禀赋和产业基础，做强做大特色优势产业”。这意味着，因地制宜发展新质生产力不是要各地另起炉灶，而是从各地现有产业积累和禀赋结构出发，在全国层面形成“各具特色、优势互补”的产业格局。

Second, establish scenario cultivation and opening as an important pathway for developing new quality productive forces. In developing and expanding emerging industries, it is necessary to “implement large-scale application demonstration actions for new technologies, new products, and new scenarios,” and increase the intensity of scenario cultivation and opening; in the layout of future industries, it is necessary to encourage exploration of multiple technological routes and typical application scenarios. For a considerable period to come, the ability to open scenarios will constitute an important institutional capacity for regions to participate in the development of new quality productive forces. For regions with relatively limited R&D investment capacity, systematically promoting scenario opening is also an effective pathway for differentiated participation.

第二，将场景培育和开放确立为发展新质生产力的重要途径。在发展壮大新兴产业中，要“实施新技术新产品新场景大规模应用示范行动”，加大场景培育和开放力度；在未来产业布局方面，鼓励探索多元技术路线、典型应用场景等。在未来较长一段时间内，场景开放能力将构成各地参与新质生产力发展的重要制度能力。对于研发投入能力相对有限的地区而言，系统性推动场景开放，同样是差异化参与其中的有效路径。

Third, use factor marketization reform to open up circulation channels for developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions. Without the cross-regional free flow of factors, the differentiated development pattern based on local conditions will degenerate into fragmented local optimization. The *Outline* clearly states the need to deepen marketization reforms for all factors including land, capital, labor, technology, and data, and to “cultivate a national integrated technology market and data market.” This is precisely to use the cross-regional free flow of factors as a link, converging the momentum of differentiated development across regions into a combined force of division of labor at the national level.

第三，以要素市场化改革打通因地制宜发展新质生产力的流通通道。没有要素的跨区域自由流动，因地制宜的差异化发展格局就会退化为各自为政的局部优化。《纲要》明确深化土地、资本、劳动力、技术、数据等全要素市场化改革，要“培育全国一体化技术市场和数据市场”，就是要以要素的跨区域自由流动为纽带，将各地差异化发展的动能汇聚为全国层面的分工合力。

(The author is a professor at the Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.)

（作者系中国社会科学院经济研究所教授）