Anchoring New Quality Productive Forces to High Technology, High Efficiency, and High-Quality Development

New quality productive forces are an advanced form of productive forces engendered by revolutionary breakthroughs in technology, innovative allocation of factors of production, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading. Compared with traditional productive forces, new quality productive forces possess a higher level of technology, exhibit greater developmental efficiency, and better conform to the new development philosophy and the requirements of high-quality development. The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-Path Modernization," deliberated and approved at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, proposes to "improve the systems and mechanisms for developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions" and to "develop productive forces characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality," thereby clarifying the new major requirements for developing productive forces on the new journey of the New Era. To build a strong material and technological foundation for Chinese-path modernization, it is necessary to grasp the characteristics of high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, form new relations of production that are compatible with them, and continuously shape new drivers and advantages for development.

新质生产力是由技术革命性突破、生产要素创新性配置、产业深度转型升级而催生的先进生产力质态。相对于传统生产力，新质生产力具有更高的技术水平，展现出更高的发展效能，更符合新发展理念和高质量发展的要求。党的二十届三中全会审议通过的《中共中央关于进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的决定》提出，“健全因地制宜发展新质生产力体制机制”“发展以高技术、高效能、高质量为特征的生产力”，明确了新时代新征程发展生产力的新的重大要求。构筑中国式现代化的强大物质技术基础需要把握高技术、高效能、高质量特征，加快发展新质生产力，形成与之相适应的新型生产关系，不断塑造发展新动能新优势。

Focusing on High Technology, Driven by Breakthroughs in Frontier Technologies

聚焦高技术，以前沿技术突破为动力

Science and technology are the most active and revolutionary factors in economic and social development. New quality productive forces are engendered by revolutionary breakthroughs in technology and represent the direction and leading level of technological development. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, China's technological innovation capacity has significantly improved. In 2023, total societal R&D expenditure exceeded 3.3 trillion yuan, the R&D investment intensity reached 2.64%, and the number of invention patent applications and international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty has ranked first in the world for many years. A series of major achievements have been made in fields such as manned spaceflight, quantum information, nuclear power technology, and large aircraft manufacturing. China's scientific and technological strength is transitioning from quantitative accumulation to qualitative leap, and from breakthroughs at individual points to enhanced systemic capability.

科学技术是经济社会发展中最活跃、最具革命性的因素，新质生产力由技术革命性突破催生而成，代表着技术的发展方向和领先水平。党的十八大以来，我国技术创新能力显著提升，2023年全社会研发经费超过3.3万亿元，研发投入强度达到2.64%，发明专利申请量、通过《专利合作条约》提交的国际专利申请量多年蝉联世界第一，在载人航天、量子信息、核电技术、大飞机制造等领域取得一系列重大成果，科技实力正从量的积累迈向质的飞跃，从点的突破迈向系统能力提升。

Looking at the history of the world economy since the Industrial Revolution, each leap in productive forces has been built upon the breakthrough, diffusion, and widespread application of original and disruptive technologies. The industrial transformation and application of these technologies form advanced new types of labor instruments, give rise to new industries and new business forms, and bring about a qualitative leap in social productive forces. The new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating. The traditional boundaries between basic research, applied research, technological development, and industrialization are becoming increasingly blurred. The chain of technological innovation is more agile, technological updates and the transformation of achievements are faster, and industrial upgrading is accelerating. Emerging industries formed by artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing technology, and new energy technology have become the commanding heights of future technology and industrial development. These technologies have a wide-ranging impact, leading to a collective technological revolution across various industries and fields characterized by greenness, intelligence, and ubiquity. At the same time, these technologies intersect, integrate, and empower each other, profoundly changing the face of human society and becoming an important force driving economic and social development.

纵观工业革命以来的世界经济发展史，每一次生产力的跃迁都建立在原创性、颠覆性技术的突破、扩散和广泛应用基础上，这些技术的产业转化和应用形成先进的新型劳动工具，催生新产业新业态，带来社会生产力的质的飞跃。新一轮科技革命和产业变革加速演进，传统意义上的基础研究、应用研究、技术开发和产业化的边界日趋模糊，科技创新链条更加灵巧，技术更新和成果转化更加快捷，产业更新换代不断加快。人工智能、物联网、生物技术、先进制造技术、新能源技术等形成的新兴产业成为未来科技和产业发展制高点。这些技术影响范围广泛，引领各行业各领域发生了以绿色、智能、泛在为特征的群体性技术革命。同时，这些技术交叉融合、相互赋能，深刻改变着人类社会面貌，成为推动经济社会发展的重要力量。

Focusing on High Efficiency, Marked by Improvements in Production Efficiency

聚焦高效能，以生产效率提升为标志

New quality productive forces take the leap in laborers, means of labor, subjects of labor, and their optimized combination as their basic connotation. Through the innovative allocation of factors of production, they enhance the efficiency of factor combinations, leading to a substantial increase in the level of productive forces. As China's high-quality factors of production shift from low-productivity sectors and links to high-productivity, high-marginal-output sectors and links, the unit output of various factors will significantly increase, and total factor productivity will also greatly improve. Data shows that from 2012 to 2023, China's overall labor productivity grew from 72,817 yuan per person to 161,615 yuan per person, with an average annual growth rate of approximately 7.5%, continuously improving the overall output efficiency of the economic system.

新质生产力以劳动者、劳动资料、劳动对象及其优化组合的跃升为基本内涵，通过生产要素的创新性配置，提升要素组合效能，带来生产力水平大幅提升。随着我国优质生产要素从低生产率部门和环节向高生产率、高边际产出部门和环节转移，各种要素的单位产出将显著提升，全要素生产率也将大幅提升。数据显示，从2012年至2023年，我国全员劳动生产率从72817元/人增长至161615元/人，年均增速约为7.5%，经济体系整体产出效率不断提升。

Looking back at history, each leap in the energy level of productive forces has manifested as an improvement in the skills of laborers, progress in labor instruments, expansion of subjects of labor, and the optimization of the combination of these three elements. Currently, digital technologies represented by the Internet, big data, and cloud computing are developing rapidly. Data has become a key new type of factor of production, driving the continuous emergence of new types of subjects of labor and new types of means of labor. Under the powerful empowerment of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, the mode of knowledge production is undergoing significant changes. "Human + AI" further enhances the creativity, initiative, and labor efficiency of workers. The iterative upgrading of frontier technologies in fields such as new energy and new materials, along with the emergence and widespread application of non-physical forms of production tools like the Industrial Internet and industrial software, endows production and manufacturing equipment with more automation and intelligent functions, enabling them to autonomously complete more complex tasks in the production process. This not only helps reduce labor input and improve production continuity and stability but also, through intelligent scheduling, simulation, and prediction of production resource allocation and online inspection, achieves efficient collaboration among various business units of an enterprise and among enterprises in the supply chain, thereby further optimizing enterprise resource allocation and improving operational efficiency.

回顾历史，每一次生产力能级的跃升，都表现为劳动者技能的提升、劳动工具的进步、劳动对象的拓展以及三者组合方式的优化。当前，以互联网、大数据、云计算等为代表的数字技术快速发展，数据成为关键的新型生产要素，推动新型劳动对象和新型劳动资料不断涌现。在人工智能等数字技术的强大赋能下，知识生产方式正在发生显著改变，“人+人工智能”使劳动者的创造性、能动性和劳动效率进一步提升。新能源和新材料等领域前沿技术的迭代升级以及工业互联网、工业软件等非实体形态生产工具的出现和广泛应用，赋予生产制造设备更多自动化和智能化功能，使其可以在生产过程中自主完成更多复杂任务，不仅有助于减少劳动力投入，提高生产连续性和稳定性，而且可以通过智能排产，模拟和预测生产资源调配、在线检测，实现企业各业务单元以及供应链各企业间的高效协同，从而进一步优化企业资源配置、提高运营效率。

Focusing on High Quality, Oriented Towards the Optimization and Upgrading of the Industrial Structure

聚焦高质量，以产业结构优化升级为方向

Developing new quality productive forces means conforming to the requirements of the new development philosophy, breaking away from the traditional extensive development model, and promoting deep industrial transformation and upgrading. In recent years, China's strategic emerging industries have shown rapid growth momentum. The scale and technological level of the digital economy have entered the forefront of the world. The "new three items" — new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products — have become highlights of exports. As of the end of December 2023, the national platform for the integration of informatization and industrialization served 183,000 industrial enterprises, cultivated 421 national-level demonstration factories, and over 10,000 provincial-level digital workshops and smart factories. The number of "lighthouse factories" accounted for 40% of the global total. Empowered by digital technology, the low-end, low-efficiency, high-energy-consumption, and high-emission development mode of traditional industries is being transformed, radiating new vitality.

发展新质生产力意味着符合新发展理念的要求，摆脱传统的粗放型发展方式，推动产业深度转型升级。近年来，我国战略性新兴产业呈快速增长势头，数字经济规模和技术水平进入世界前列，新能源汽车、锂电池、光伏产品“新三样”成为出口亮点。截至2023年12月底，国家两化融合公共服务平台服务工业企业18.3万家，培育国家级示范工厂421家、省级数字化车间和智能工厂超过1万家，“灯塔工厂”数量占全球总数的40%。在数字技术赋能下，传统产业低端低效、高能耗高排放的发展方式正在转变，焕发出新的生机活力。

Looking at successive technological revolutions and industrial transformations, each major leap in productive forces has given rise to a batch of new industries, leading to the replacement of leading and pillar industries. New general-purpose technologies empower traditional industries, promoting an overall improvement in the technological level of the economic system and the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure. As a typical general-purpose technology, the deep integration of digital technology with traditional industries can optimize production processes, improve production techniques, increase product functionality, and expand value-added services. It plays an important role in improving product quality, reducing energy consumption and emissions, lowering production costs, and enhancing supply chain responsiveness, driving industries towards higher levels, higher added value, and greener, lower-carbon development. Green development is the foundation for high-quality development, and new quality productive forces are themselves green productive forces, characterized by being environmentally friendly, green, and low-carbon. New technologies and industries such as energy conservation and environmental protection, new energy, and low-carbon can drive the technological transformation, process, and equipment upgrading of the entire national economy, achieving clean production processes, circular utilization of resources, low-carbon energy consumption, and green product supply. They promote the green transformation of the industrial structure and energy structure, thereby driving the comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society.

从历次技术革命和产业变革看，生产力的每一次重大跃迁都催生出一批新产业，带来主导产业和支柱产业更迭，新的通用目的技术会赋能传统产业，推动经济体系整体技术水平提高和产业结构优化升级。作为典型的通用目的技术，数字技术与传统产业的深度融合可以优化生产流程、改进生产工艺、增加产品功能、拓展增值服务，在提高产品质量、减少能耗和排放、降低生产成本、增强供应链响应速度等方面发挥重要作用，推动产业向更高层次、更高附加值、更绿色低碳的方向发展。绿色发展是高质量发展的底色，而新质生产力本身就是绿色生产力，具有环境友好、绿色低碳的特征。节能环保、新能源、低碳等新技术新产业能够推动整个国民经济的技术改造、工艺和设备升级，实现生产过程清洁化、资源利用循环化、能源消耗低碳化、产品供给绿色化，推进产业结构、能源结构绿色转型，进而推动经济社会全面绿色转型。

Forming New Relations of Production Compatible with New Quality Productive Forces

形成适配新质生产力的新型生产关系

To accelerate the development of productive forces characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, it is necessary to further comprehensively deepen reform and opening up, forming and perfecting new relations of production that are compatible with them. First, establish and improve the institutional mechanisms that support original and disruptive innovation. Adhere to both goal orientation and free exploration, continuously improve the diversified investment mechanisms for basic research and applied basic research, and support exploration along multiple technical pathways; enhance the autonomy of innovative talents in decision-making and management regarding original and disruptive technological innovation, and strive to create an environment that advocates innovation, tolerates failure, and encourages dedicated research. Second, perfect the system for transforming scientific and technological achievements. Encourage the government, enterprises, and research institutes to jointly build and operate a number of platforms for transforming scientific and technological achievements open to society, such as concept validation, pilot-scale maturation, and small-batch trial production, thereby opening up the "first mile" and the "last mile" of transforming scientific and technological achievements. Strengthen financial support for the transformation of scientific and technological innovation achievements, such as guiding funds for transforming scientific and technological achievements, risk compensation funds, concept validation funds, and seed funds, and perfect financial support models that are adapted to the transformation laws of scientific and technological achievements of different types and at different stages. Strengthen the channel construction of technology supply-demand platforms, actively leverage the bridging and linking role of technology intermediary institutions, and enable deep docking between entrepreneurs and scientists. Third, perfect the institutional mechanisms for the optimization and upgrading of traditional industries, accelerate the integrated innovation of new technologies with traditional manufacturing, support the digital, green, and service-oriented transformation and upgrading of enterprises, and shape new competitive advantages.

加快发展以高技术、高效能、高质量为特征的生产力，必须进一步全面深化改革，形成和完善与之相适应的新型生产关系。一是建立健全支持原创性、颠覆性创新的体制机制。坚持目标导向和自由探索并举，持续完善基础研究、应用基础研究多元化投入机制，支持多技术路线探索；提升创新人才在原创性、颠覆性技术创新决策和管理方面的自主权，努力营造崇尚创新、宽容失败、潜心研究的环境。二是完善科技成果转化体系。鼓励政府、企业、科研院所合作共建一批概念验证、中试熟化、小批量试生产等面向社会开放的科技成果转化平台，打通科技成果转化的“最初一公里”和“最后一公里”。加强科技成果转化引导基金、风险补偿资金、概念验证基金、种子基金等科技创新成果转化资金支持，完善适应不同类型、不同阶段科技成果转化规律的金融支持模式。加强技术供需平台的渠道建设，积极发挥科技中介机构的桥梁纽带作用，让企业家与科学家实现深度对接。三是健全传统产业优化升级体制机制，加快新技术与传统制造业的融合创新，支持企业数字化、绿色化和服务化改造升级，塑造竞争新优势。

Online Editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗