A Political-Economic Interpretation of New Quality Productive Forces

On September 8, 2023, when listening to the work report of the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed, “Integrate scientific and technological innovation resources, lead the development of strategic emerging industries and future industries, and accelerate the formation of new quality productive forces.” On January 31, 2024, during the 11th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping provided a systematic explanation of new quality productive forces. During the 2024 Two Sessions [1]1 The “Two Sessions” refers to the annual plenary meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), held concurrently in early spring., General Secretary Xi Jinping further emphasized, “We must firmly grasp high-quality development as the primary task and develop new quality productive forces in light of local conditions.” General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important exposition on “new quality productive forces” enriches and develops the Marxist theory of productive forces, deepens the understanding of the laws governing the development of productive forces, and further enriches the theoretical connotation of Xi Jinping’s economic thought; in practice, it provides a fundamental guideline for comprehensively implementing the innovation-driven development strategy in the new stage of development, accelerating the cultivation and development of strategic emerging industries and future industries, promoting high-quality economic development, and building new advantages for national competition.

2023年9月8日，习近平总书记在听取黑龙江省委和省政府工作汇报时强调，“整合科技创新资源，引领发展战略性新兴产业和未来产业，加快形成新质生产力”。2024年1月31日，习近平总书记在中共中央政治局第十一次集体学习时对新质生产力作出系统性阐释。2024年两会期间，习近平总书记进一步强调，“要牢牢把握高质量发展这个首要任务，因地制宜发展新质生产力”。习近平总书记关于“新质生产力”的重要论述，丰富和发展了马克思主义生产力理论，深化了对生产力发展规律的认识，进一步丰富了习近平经济思想的理论内涵；在实践中为新发展阶段全面落实创新驱动发展战略，加快培育和发展战略性新兴产业和未来产业、推动经济高质量发展、构筑国家竞争新优势提供了根本遵循。

I. Dialectically Understanding the Theoretical Connotation of New Quality Productive Forces

一、辩证地认识新质生产力的理论内涵

New quality productive forces are a new category in political economy. To understand and grasp their profound connotation, it is necessary to adhere to dialectical materialism, focusing on research and explanation from the perspectives of the dialectical relationship between “new” and “quality,” quantitative change and qualitative change, the advanced nature of structure and content, and the two dialectical unities that embody this advanced nature.

新质生产力是一个政治经济学的新范畴，认识和理解其深刻内涵需要坚持唯物辩证法，重点从“新”与“质”、量变与质变的辩证关系、结构和内容的先进性、体现先进性的两个辩证统一关系等方面进行研究阐释。

1. The Meaning of “New” and “Quality”

1.“新”与“质”的含义

The productive forces that drive the development of human society include natural productive forces and social productive forces. Natural productive forces are the sum total of various natural forces that exist in nature, are closely related to human production activities, and can directly or indirectly affect production activities. Social productive forces are the ability of people to utilize and transform nature, thereby creating use value or social wealth. In terms of the type of productive forces, new quality productive forces are a new form of the development of social productive forces. Therefore, the research and explanation of new quality productive forces are mainly carried out from the perspective of social productive forces. From the perspective of historical materialism, social productive forces are the most active and revolutionary factor driving the progress of a society. Generally speaking, the development of social productive forces is an important criterion for measuring the progress of a society. Looking at the development process of human society, from lower-level societies to higher-level societies, from a primitive backward state to a modern advanced state, the main driving force behind this is social productive forces. New quality productive forces are a key force driving social progress in the era of the digital economy.

推动人类社会发展的生产力包括自然生产力和社会生产力。自然生产力是存在于自然界并与人类的生产活动紧密关联，能够直接或间接影响生产活动的各类自然力量的总和。社会生产力，是人们利用自然和改造自然，进而创造使用价值或社会财富的能力。从生产力的类型来讲，新质生产力是社会生产力发展的新形式，因此对新质生产力的研究阐释主要从社会生产力的角度来展开。从唯物史观来看，社会生产力是推动一个社会进步的最活跃和最革命的因素。一般来讲，社会生产力的发展是衡量一个社会进步的重要标准。从人类社会的发展历程来看，从低级社会到高级社会，从原始的落后状态到现代化的先进状态，其背后的主要推动力量就是社会生产力。新质生产力是数字经济时代推动社会进步的关键力量。

The “new” of new quality productive forces is reflected in the new composition of elements and the new concrete manifestations. First, the composition of elements is new. Compared with traditional productive forces, new quality productive forces are productive forces whose elements present an entirely new qualitative state. Their elemental structure mainly manifests as new-type laborers who master new science and technology, new means of labor such as intelligent equipment, and new objects of labor such as digital space and deep-sea, deep-space, and deep-earth domains.

新质生产力的“新”体现为要素构成新和具体表现新。一是要素构成新。与传统生产力相比较，新质生产力是生产力要素呈现全新质态的生产力，其要素结构主要呈现为掌握新科技的新型劳动者、智能设备等新劳动资料、数字空间和深海深空深地等新劳动对象。

First are new-type laborers. From simple cooperation to manufacture to large-scale machine industry, laborers have always been the dynamic element of productive forces and also the most important element. Only when means of labor and objects of labor are combined with the creative activities of laborers can they be transformed into actual productive forces. The labor quality and labor skills of laborers directly affect the level of development of productive forces. When, driven by digital technology, data becomes an object of labor and algorithms become a means of labor, laborers need to possess higher digital qualities and skills to adapt to constantly changing production demands. In the era of the digital economy, only when laborers master the necessary high-tech knowledge and labor skills, possess knowledge-based and specialized innovation capabilities and more advanced cognitive levels, can they drive high-tech objects of labor and means of labor to create more new social wealth.

首先是新型劳动者。从简单协作到工场手工业再到机器大工业，劳动者始终都是生产力的能动要素，也是最重要的要素。劳动资料和劳动对象只有与劳动者的创造活动结合起来，才能转变为现实的生产力。劳动者的劳动素质和劳动技能直接影响生产力的发展水平。当在数字技术驱动下数据成为劳动对象、算法成为劳动手段时，劳动者需要具备更高的数字素质和技能，才能适应不断变化的生产需求。在数字经济时代，劳动者只有掌握必要的高新科技知识和劳动技能，具有知识化和专业化的创新能力和更为先进的认知水平时，才能驱动高新科技化的劳动对象和劳动资料创造出更多的社会新财富。

Second are new means of labor. Means of labor are the material means or conditions that people act upon objects of labor in the labor process. Marx pointed out: “The distinction between different economic epochs is not what is produced, but how it is produced, by what means of labor it is produced.” [2]2 This is a paraphrase of Marx’s argument in *Capital*, Volume 1, Chapter 7, Section 1, where he distinguishes economic epochs by the means of labor, not the product. From the agricultural economy to the industrial economy to the digital economy, means of labor have undergone tremendous changes. Today, a new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation, represented by artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, quantum communication, new materials, and new energy, is driving the continuous transformation of traditional productive forces into new quality productive forces. The core of these new means of labor is the digitization and intellectualization of labor tools, which has greatly changed the forms of labor organization and modes of production, creating many new industries, new business forms, and new models. Labor tools include various digital and intelligent production tools, as well as soft labor tools such as algorithms and computing power. With the rapid development of digital technology, a batch of production tools with high technological content and precision have emerged one after another, promoting systematic changes in production methods. High-tech production technologies represented by 5G, the Internet of Things, blockchain, and artificial intelligence can accelerate the flow of resources, optimize the combination of factor allocation, enhance the systematicness and synergy of production labor, and raise the level of social productive forces. Based on digital infrastructure such as communication networks, storage centers, and computing equipment, with the support of algorithms and computing power, more digital space can be created. Forms of labor organization can exist in digital space, achieving the extension of products from standardization to personalization, the transformation of production methods from centralized to distributed, and the new characteristics of platformization, sharing, and remoteness in production collaboration methods. By utilizing new means of production, the digital economy and the real economy achieve organic integration, which is conducive to improving production efficiency and effectiveness.

其次是新劳动资料。劳动资料是人们在劳动过程中作用于劳动对象的物质资料或条件。马克思指出：“各种经济时代的区别，不在于生产什么，而在于怎样生产，用什么劳动资料生产。”从农业经济到工业经济再到数字经济，劳动资料发生了巨大的转变。如今，以人工智能、大数据、云计算、量子通讯、新材料和新能源等为代表的新一轮科技革命和产业变革的浪潮正在推动传统生产力向新质生产力不断转变。这些新劳动资料的核心是劳动工具的数字化和智能化，它极大地改变了劳动组织形式和生产方式，创造出很多新行业、新业态和新模式。劳动工具包括各类数字化、智能化的生产工具，以及算法、算力等软性的劳动工具。伴随着数字技术的飞速发展，一批科技含量高、技术精密的生产工具陆续出现，推动生产方式发生系统性变革。以5G、物联网、区块链、人工智能等为代表的高科技生产技术，能够促进资源加速流动、优化要素配置组合，增强生产劳动的系统性和协同性，提高社会生产力水平。以通信网络、存储中心和运算设备等数字基础设施为基础，通过算法和算力的加持，可以创造出更多的数字空间。劳动组织形式可以存在于数字空间，实现产品从标准化向个性化延展，生产方式从集中式向分布式转型，生产协作方式呈现出平台化、共享化、远程化的新特点。通过利用新生产资料，数字经济与实体经济实现有机融合，有利于提高生产的效能和效益。

Finally are new objects of labor. Objects of labor refer to the material substances that people process through their own labor to make them meet the needs of society. They are the premise of material production and an important indicator for measuring the level of development of social productive forces. Only when labor is combined with objects of labor can social wealth be created. As a product of the objectified development of human activity, objects of labor directly reflect the level of development of productive forces of the era. First, new objects of labor expand the field of production. Driven by the technological revolution, humanity continuously opens up new production fields and production pathways. More artificial compounds, high-performance materials, and unconventional energy sources are introduced into production departments, and the material scope of objects of labor continues to expand. In the era of the digital economy, objects of labor are transforming from materialized objects to non-materialized new objects of labor such as digital space. The emergence of new types of objects of labor not only provides new resources for production but also promotes the transformation and upgrading of production technology. Second, new objects of labor improve production efficiency and quality. Compared with traditional objects of labor, new objects of labor possess characteristics such as processability, easy storage, intelligence, and synergy, enabling laborers to master and use them quickly and efficiently. They not only optimize the processing process, efficiency, and quality of objects of labor but also promote the iterative upgrading of objects of labor, further promoting the formation of new quality productive forces. Third, new objects of labor promote scientific and technological progress and innovation. The emergence and application of new objects of labor are often accompanied by technological breakthroughs and innovations. On the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, high-tech products, new energy, new materials, and newly opened scientific research objects are all expansions and discoveries of objects of labor. The emergence and development of these new objects of labor not only promote scientific and technological progress and innovation but also provide important support and impetus for the formation of new quality productive forces.

最后是新劳动对象。劳动对象是指人们通过自身劳动进行加工使其成为能够满足社会需要的物质资料。它是物质生产的前提，是衡量社会生产力发展水平的重要标志。劳动只有与劳动对象相结合，才能创造出社会财富。作为人类活动对象化发展的产物，劳动对象直接体现了时代的生产力发展水平。其一，新劳动对象拓展了生产领域。在科技革命的推动下，人类不断开辟新的生产领域和生产途径，更多的人工合成物、高性能材料、非常规能源等被引入生产部门，劳动对象的物质范围持续扩大。在数字经济时代，劳动对象正在由物质化的对象转变为数字空间等非物质化的新劳动对象。新型劳动对象的出现，不仅为生产提供了新的资源，还推动了生产技术的变革和升级。其二，新劳动对象提高了生产效率和质量。与传统劳动对象相比，新劳动对象具备可加工、易储存、智能化、协同性等特征，能够快捷高效地为劳动者所掌握使用。它们不仅优化了劳动对象的加工过程、效率和质量，还推动了劳动对象的迭代升级，进一步促进了新质生产力的形成。其三，新劳动对象促进了科技进步和创新。新劳动对象的出现和应用，往往伴随着科技的突破和创新。在全面建设社会主义现代化国家新征程上，高科技产品、新能源、新材料以及新开辟的科学研究对象等，都是劳动对象的拓展与发现。这些新劳动对象的涌现和开发，不仅推动了科技的进步和创新，而且为新质生产力的形成提供了重要的支撑和动力。

Second, the concrete manifestations are new. New quality productive forces are advanced productive forces that rely on new technologies, new industries, new business forms, and new fields. The new technological revolution, represented by artificial intelligence, big data, satellite communications, new materials, new energy, and deep-sea, deep-space, and deep-earth exploration, transcends traditional technological innovation, emphasizes key and disruptive technological breakthroughs, and represents the key technological dimension of new quality productive forces. The new industries on which new quality productive forces rely are mainly strategic emerging industries and future industries represented by information and communications, green energy, aerospace, and high-end equipment manufacturing; these possess a high degree of technological content and innovation capacity and represent the industrial dimension of new quality productive forces. New business forms are an important component of new quality productive forces, mainly new business models and service models represented by personalization, customization, and experiential offerings—for example, emerging business forms such as the platform economy, the sharing economy, and social e-commerce—which satisfy consumers’ personalized needs and increase enterprises’ market share and competitiveness. Unlike traditional productive forces, the new fields involved in new quality productive forces are mainly high-tech fields represented by new energy, new materials, and biotechnology; the development of new fields drives economic growth and social progress and also provides broader space and opportunities for human survival and development.

二是具体表现新。新质生产力是依托于新技术、新产业、新业态和新领域的先进生产力。以人工智能、大数据、卫星通信、新材料、新能源、深海深空深地探测为代表的新科技革命，超越了传统意义上的科技创新，强调关键性颠覆性技术突破，代表着新质生产力的关键性技术维度。新质生产力所依托的新产业主要是以信息通信、绿色能源、航空航天、高端装备制造等为代表的战略性新兴产业和未来产业，具有高度的技术含量和创新能力，代表着新质生产力的产业维度。新业态是新质生产力的重要组成部分，主要是以个性化、定制化、体验化等为代表的新型商业模式和服务模式，例如平台经济、共享经济、社交电商等新兴业态，满足了消费者的个性化需求，提高企业的市场占有率和竞争力。与传统生产力不同的是，新质生产力涉及的新领域主要是以新能源、新材料、生物技术等为代表的高新技术领域，新领域的发展推动了经济增长和社会进步，也为人类生存和发展提供了更加广阔的空间和机会。

The “quality” (质) of new quality productive forces is embodied in four aspects: new essence, high quality, high grade, and “quality” advantage.

新质生产力的“质”则体现为新本质、高质量、高品质、“质”优势四个方面。

First, new essence. The economic growth driven by traditional productive forces relies mainly on large-scale inputs of means of labor, objects of labor, and laborers. This horizontal expansion-type path of economic growth is extensive and unsustainable; it may bring rapid economic growth in the initial stage, but as pressure on resources and the environment increases, its limitations become increasingly evident. New quality productive forces are fundamentally different from traditional productive forces. The formation of new quality productive forces originates from major breakthroughs in basic scientific research, fundamental subversion of original technological routes, and the large-scale emergence of strategic new industries and future industries. With the deepening of basic research, the formation of original technology sources, continuous breakthroughs in key generic technologies, frontier leading technologies, and disruptive technologies, and the cluster-style development of new industries and future industries, a huge force will be formed to promote economic and social progress.

一是新本质。传统生产力推动的经济增长，主要依赖于劳动资料、劳动对象和劳动者大量投入，这种水平型扩张的经济增长路径是粗放式、不可持续的，在初期可能会带来经济的快速增长，但随着资源和环境的压力增大，局限性也愈发明显。新质生产力与传统生产力有本质区别。新质生产力的形成源自基础科学研究的重大突破、对原有技术路线的根本性颠覆和战略性新产业、未来产业的大规模出现。随着基础研究的深化，原创技术策源地的形成，关键共性技术、前沿引领技术、颠覆性技术的不断突破，以及新产业和未来产业的集群式发展，会形成推动经济社会进步的巨大力量。

Second, high quality. Advancing Chinese-path modernization and comprehensively building a modern socialist country require that new quality productive forces serve the goal orientation of high-quality development. New quality productive forces can empower high-quality economic development through a traction effect: taking high and new technology as the lead, driving industrial transformation, thereby profoundly changing production methods and lifestyles, forming a technologically innovative system and industrial clusters with international competitiveness, and driving high-quality economic development. New quality productive forces can empower modern social and economic development through a structural effect. The development of new quality productive forces will inevitably promote the chain-style and cluster-style development of strategic emerging industries and future industries, making these industries and sectors the ones with the highest labor productivity and total factor productivity, thereby promoting high-quality economic development through continuous optimization of the economic structure. New quality productive forces can empower high-quality economic development through a multiplier effect. Under new quality productive forces, the economic growth function is no longer expressed as additive growth relying on inputs of traditional factors such as capital, labor, and land, but rather generates multiplicative growth through high-quality factor inputs and technological innovation-driven development. The new technologies, new industries, new business forms, and new fields on which new quality productive forces focus are precisely the sectors and industries with high productivity and high added value, which is conducive to driving the continuous increase of total economic output and the continuous leap in development quality through the multiplier effect. New quality productive forces can empower sustainable economic growth through a growth effect. Sustainable economic growth is precisely the prerequisite for achieving high-quality development. Developing new quality productive forces inevitably requires achieving new breakthroughs in major scientific and technological fields and forming new advantages in strategic emerging industries and future industries. By promoting scientific and technological innovation, upgrading the industrial structure, improving resource allocation efficiency, and innovating systems and mechanisms, total factor productivity can be continuously raised, thereby continuously releasing the potential for economic growth and ensuring sustainable, high-quality economic development.

二是高质量。推进中国式现代化、全面建设社会主义现代化国家，要求新质生产力必须服务于高质量发展的目标取向。新质生产力可以通过牵引效应赋能经济高质量发展，以高新科技为引领，带动产业变革，进而深刻地改变生产方式和生活方式，形成具有国际竞争力的技术创新体系和产业集群，带动经济高质量发展。新质生产力可以通过结构效应赋能现代社会经济发展。新质生产力的发展必然推动战略性新兴产业和未来产业的链条式与集群式发展，使得战略性新兴产业和未来产业成为劳动生产率和全要素生产率最高的行业及部门，进而通过经济结构的不断优化推动经济高质量发展。新质生产力可以通过乘数效应赋能经济高质量发展。在新质生产力下，经济增长函数不再表现为依靠资本、劳动、土地等传统要素投入的累加式增长，而是通过高质量要素投入和科技创新驱动产生乘数式增长。新质生产力聚焦的新技术、新产业、新业态和新领域，正是生产率高和附加值高的部门和产业，有利于通过乘数效应带动经济总量的持续增加和发展质量的持续跃升。新质生产力可以通过增长效应赋能经济可持续增长。经济可持续增长正是实现高质量发展的前提。发展新质生产力必然要求在重大科技领域实现新突破，在战略性新兴产业和未来产业领域形成新优势。通过促进科技创新、升级产业结构、提升资源配置效率和创新体制机制可以不断提高全要素生产率，进而不断释放经济增长潜力，确保经济可持续、高质量发展。

Third, high grade. At the present stage, the principal contradiction in our society is the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. Developing new quality productive forces is conducive to improving production efficiency, reducing environmental pollution, and increasing product diversity, so as to better meet the people’s needs for a high-quality life. New quality productive forces rely on advanced technology and intelligent equipment; through digitalization, automation, and other technical means, they greatly enhance the efficiency and precision of the production process, shorten product production cycles, and reduce production costs, enabling enterprises to adapt more quickly to market demand and provide richer, higher-quality products. Moreover, traditional large-scale production methods cannot meet market changes; the development of new quality productive forces enables enterprises to shift from homogenized, assembly-line production methods to flexible manufacturing and customized production, continuously introducing new products through R&D, design, and the application of new materials, thereby satisfying diverse and personalized consumer demands. In addition, traditional production methods are often accompanied by large amounts of resource consumption and environmental pollution, whereas new quality productive forces promote the green transformation of production methods and lifestyles through the development of green technologies and green industries.

三是高品质。现阶段，我国社会的主要矛盾是人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾。发展新质生产力有利于提高生产效率、降低环境污染、增加产品多样性，以便更好地满足人民群众对高品质生活的需要。新质生产力依托于先进技术和智能化设备，通过数字化、自动化等技术手段大幅提升了生产过程的效率和精度，缩短了产品的生产周期、降低了生产成本，使得企业能更快地适应市场需求，提供更丰富、更优质的产品。并且，传统的大规模生产方式无法满足市场的变化，新质生产力的发展使得企业从同质化、流水线式的生产方式向柔性制造、定制生产的方式转变，通过研发设计、应用新材料等方式不断推陈出新，满足多样化、个性化的消费者需求。另外，传统的生产方式往往伴随着大量资源消耗和环境污染，而新质生产力通过发展绿色技术和绿色产业，推动生产方式和生活方式绿色化转型。

Fourth, “quality” advantage. The strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires that new quality productive forces serve to build new advantages in international competition that attach equal importance to “quality” and “quantity.” In terms of “quality,” new quality productive forces are an important foundation for achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, and for building an autonomous, controllable, safe, and efficient industrial and supply chain. By giving full play to the synergistic role of various entities—government, market, and society—vigorously promoting breakthrough progress in basic research, focusing on areas such as shortcomings in the industrial chain, “bottleneck” technologies [3]3 “Bottleneck” technologies (卡脖子技术) is a Chinese term for technologies in which foreign countries hold a monopoly or near-monopoly, creating a strategic vulnerability for China., key components, and future technologies, accelerating breakthroughs in key generic technologies, breaking through the restrictions of the “small yard, high fence” [4]4 “Small yard, high fence” (小院高墙) is a term used in U.S. policy discourse to describe targeted export controls and investment restrictions on advanced technologies, intended to limit China’s access while minimizing broader economic disruption. erected by the United States and other Western countries in high-tech fields, and forging hard-core advantages with international competitiveness. In terms of “quantity,” new quality productive forces, through their digitalized, networked, intelligent, and green production methods, promote the optimization and upgrading of traditional industrial structures and accelerate the formation of strategic emerging industries and future industries, continuously improving enterprises’ innovation capacity and production efficiency, thereby enabling enterprises to enhance market competitiveness and gain a “quantity” advantage in international market competition. Thus, new quality productive forces serve to build new advantages in international competition that attach equal importance to “quality” and “quantity.”

四是“质”优势。中华民族伟大复兴的战略全局，要求新质生产力必须服务于构筑“质”“量”并重的国际竞争新优势。从“质”上来说，新质生产力是实现高水平科技自立自强，构建自主可控、安全高效的产业链供应链的重要基础。通过充分发挥政府、市场和社会各类主体的协同作用，大力推动基础研究取得突破性进展，聚焦产业链短板、“卡脖子”技术、关键零部件、未来技术等领域，加快实现关键共性技术突破，突破美国等西方国家在高技术领域构筑的“小院高墙”的限制，打造具有国际竞争力的硬核优势。从“量”上来说，新质生产力以其数字化、网络化、智能化、绿色化的生产方式促进传统产业结构优化升级和加快形成战略性新兴产业和未来产业，不断提高企业的创新力和生产效率，从而促使企业提高市场竞争力，取得国际市场竞争中的“量”优势。由此，新质生产力服务于构筑“质”“量”并重的国际竞争新优势。

2. The Dialectical Relationship between Quantitative Change and Qualitative Change

2.量变与质变的辩证关系

The dialectical relationship between quantitative change and qualitative change is one of the important categories of relations in the Marxist methodology. Quantitative change refers to changes in the quantity, scale, speed, and degree of things. Qualitative change refers to a leap-like transformation of a thing from one qualitative state to another, involving fundamental changes in the thing. From the perspective of dialectical materialism, quantitative change and qualitative change are a dialectically unified relationship; they are both relatively independent and can be interconnected and transformed. In the process of change, the accumulation of quantitative change will ultimately achieve a breakthrough in qualitative change; at the same time, the occurrence of qualitative change will affect and constrain the scale and direction of quantitative change in multiple aspects. The development of new quality productive forces embodies the dialectical relationship between quantitative change and qualitative change. New technologies such as digital technology, new energy, and new materials, and the development of related new industries, represent the direction of development of new quality productive forces. When these new technologies and new industries, through continuous development and expansion, occupy a core position in all technological systems and industrial systems, they will generate a huge driving force, promoting the rapid development of social productive forces. The large-scale development of new quality productive forces can further drive the development of more new technologies and new industries, changing the dynamic structure of economic growth on a broader scale, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure and economic structure.

量变与质变的辩证关系是马克思主义方法论中重要的关系范畴之一。量变是事物在数量、规模、速度和程度等上的变化。质变是事物由一种质态向另外一种质态的飞跃性转化，涉及事物的根本性变化。从唯物辩证法角度来看，量变与质变是辩证统一的关系，两者既相对独立，又可以相互联系和转化。事物在变化过程中，量变的积累最终会实现质变的突破；同时，质变的发生会从多个方面影响和制约量变的规模和发展方向。新质生产力的发展体现着量变和质变的辩证关系。数字技术、新能源、新材料等新技术和与其相关新产业的发展，代表着新质生产力的发展方向。这些新技术和新产业通过不断地发展壮大，在所有技术体系和产业体系中处于核心地位时，就会产生巨大的推动作用，促进社会生产力的快速发展。新质生产力的大规模发展，又可以进一步带动更多的新技术和新产业的发展，可以从更大范围内改变经济增长的动力结构，促进产业结构和经济结构转型升级。

The qualitative change of new quality productive forces arises from the structural quantitative change of productive forces. The structural quantitative change of new quality productive forces mainly comes from the accumulation of changes in the individual capabilities of laborers, natural conditions, and the social forces of labor. In the era of the digital economy, the higher the proportion of high-quality laborers capable of adapting to the needs of the digital economy and the intelligent economy, the greater the possibility of developing new economies and new industries, and the larger the scale on which new quality productive forces can be formed. Changes in natural conditions, especially as the level of science and technology rises, the stronger people’s ability to utilize and transform natural conditions, the stronger the ability to form new quality productive forces. Regarding labor productivity, Marx pointed out, “Apart from the natural endowment of individuals and their acquired skills in production, labor productivity mainly depends on: first, the natural conditions of labor, such as the fertility of the soil, the richness of mines, etc.; second, the progressive improvement of the social forces of labor, which is brought about by: production on a large scale, the concentration of capital, the combination of labor, the division of labor, machinery, improved methods, the application of chemical and other natural forces, the shortening of time and space through the use of means of communication and transport, and other inventions by which science compels natural forces to serve labor, and by which the social character or cooperative character of labor is developed.” [5]5 Karl Marx, *Capital*, Volume 1, Chapter 11, “The Rate and Mass of Surplus Value.” The quotation is adapted from the Chinese translation of Marx’s text. It can be seen that to achieve the structural quantitative change of new quality productive forces, quantitative change and accumulation are needed in economies of scale, capital accumulation, the division and cooperation of labor, transportation and communication conditions, and scientific research. When the accumulation of structural quantitative change exceeds a certain degree, qualitative change occurs. The development of new quality productive forces depends on the change and accumulation of various structural elements. As this quantitative accumulation reaches the degree that triggers qualitative change, new quality productive forces reach a higher level. At the new level, structural quantitative change continues to occur, driving further qualitative change. Through the mutual influence and mutual promotion of quantitative and qualitative change, new quality productive forces gradually develop and expand, ultimately becoming a new pathway for transforming the drivers of economic growth and promoting high-quality development.

新质生产力的质变来自生产力的结构性量变。新质生产力的结构性量变主要来自劳动者的个人能力、自然条件和劳动的社会力变化的积累。数字经济时代，具备适应数字经济和智能经济需要的高素质劳动者的比重越高，发展新经济和新行业的可能性就越大，形成新质生产力的规模也就会越大。自然条件的变化，尤其是随着科学技术水平的提高，人们利用自然和改造自然条件的能力越强，形成新质生产力的能力就会越强。关于劳动生产力，马克思指出，“除了各个人的先天的能力和后天获得的生产技能的区别，劳动生产力主要应当取决于：首先，劳动的自然条件，如土地的肥沃程度、矿山的丰富程度等等；其次，劳动的社会力的日益改进，引起这种改进的是：大规模的生产，资本的积聚，劳动的结合，分工，机器，改良的方法，化学力和其他自然力的应用，利用交通和运输工具而达到时间和空间的缩短，以及其他各种发明，科学就是靠这些发明来驱使自然力为劳动服务，劳动的社会性质或协作性质也由于这些发明而得以发展”。可见，要实现新质生产力的结构性量变，需要规模经济、资本积累、劳动的分工与协作、交通和运输条件以及科学研究等方面都发生量变和积累。结构性量变的积累超过一定的度，就会形成质变。新质生产力的发展取决于各类结构性要素的变化和积累，随着这种量的积累达到了引起质变的度以后，新质生产力就达到了一个更高的水平。在新的水平上，结构性量变继续发生，推动新的质变发生。在量变与质变的相互影响和互相促进作用中，新质生产力会逐渐发展壮大，最后成为转变经济增长动能，推动经济高质量发展的新途径。

3. Two Aspects Embodying Advanced Nature: Structure and Content

3.体现先进性的两个方面：结构和内容

New quality productive forces are the specific manifestation of advanced productive forces in the era of the digital economy. Advanced productive forces are mainly reflected in structural advancedness and content advancedness, and the same applies to new quality productive forces.

新质生产力是数字经济时代先进生产力的具体表现形式。先进生产力主要体现为结构先进性和内容先进性，新质生产力也是如此。

First, new quality productive forces should embody advancedness in terms of factor structure, technological structure, enterprise structure, industrial structure, and world market structure. From the perspective of simple factor structure, advanced productive forces are mainly reflected in high-quality laborers, new means of production represented by advanced tools of production, new objects of labor, and new fields of labor. New quality productive forces are the concrete embodiment of advanced productive forces. Therefore, in the era of the digital economy, new-type laborers who master new technologies, new means of production such as artificial intelligence equipment, and new objects of labor such as data elements are reshaping the structure of new quality productive forces, forming new drivers for the transformation of productive forces. From the perspective of technological structure, technological structure refers to the composition of production techniques and processes, including cutting-edge technology, advanced technology, intermediate technology, and primary technology. Only when cutting-edge and advanced technologies occupy a dominant position can the technological structure of production be considered advanced. Developing new quality productive forces inevitably requires continuously upgrading the technological structure, especially requiring new-generation digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and other cutting-edge and advanced technologies to play a leading role. From the perspective of enterprise structure, enterprises are the micro-level entities that practice advanced productive forces. The greater the number and scale of high-tech enterprises, the stronger the micro-foundation for the development of advanced productive forces. The development of new quality productive forces necessarily requires the emergence of a large number of high-tech enterprises in frontier scientific and technological fields and new industrial fields, forming competitive leading enterprises through market-oriented development. From the perspective of industrial structure, advanced productive forces need to be rationally distributed across agriculture, industry, and the service sector, while also forming developed industrial clusters in key areas and industries. New quality productive forces are mainly deployed in strategic emerging industries and future industries. They are important driving forces for optimizing and upgrading the industrial structure, and it is necessary to continuously strengthen and expand related industrial chains and industrial clusters around strategic emerging industries and future industries. From the perspective of world market structure, the experience of previous industrial revolutions shows that enterprises and commodities from countries with advanced productive forces generally occupy a dominant position in the world market. Currently, in world market competition, high technology and technological products are key elements in forming a country’s competitive advantage. The development of new quality productive forces is precisely about building new advantages in supply chains, industrial chains, and innovation chains within strategic emerging industries and future industries.

首先，新质生产力在要素结构、技术结构、企业结构、产业结构和世界市场结构等方面都应该体现先进性。从简单要素结构看，先进生产力主要体现在高素质的劳动者、以先进生产工具为代表的新生产资料、新的劳动对象和劳动领域等。新质生产力是先进生产力的具体体现，因此，数字经济时代，掌握新科技的新型劳动者、人工智能设备等新生产资料、数据要素等新劳动对象正在重塑新质生产力的结构，形成推动生产力变革的新动能。从技术结构看，技术结构是生产的技术与工艺的组成情况，包括尖端技术、先进技术、中等技术和初级技术等组成部分。只有尖端技术、先进技术占主导地位，生产的技术结构才算是先进的。发展新质生产力必然要求不断提升技术结构，尤其需要新一代数字技术、人工智能等尖端技术和先进技术发挥主导性作用。从企业结构看，企业是实践先进生产力的微观主体，高新技术企业数量越多，规模越大，先进生产力的发展才会越有微观基础。新质生产力的发展必然要求在科技前沿领域和产业新领域中出现大量的高新技术企业，通过市场化的发展形成具有竞争力的头部企业等。从产业结构看，先进生产力需要在农业、工业、服务业领域合理布局，同时需要在重点领域和行业上形成发达的产业集群。新质生产力主要布局在战略性新兴产业和未来产业中，它们是推动产业结构优化和高级化的重要推动力量，需要围绕战略性新兴产业和未来产业不断做大做强相关产业链和产业集群。从世界市场结构看，历次工业革命的经验表明，拥有先进生产力的国家的企业和商品，在世界市场上一般占据着主导地位。当前，世界市场竞争中，高新技术和科技产品是形成国家竞争优势的关键内容。新质生产力的发展就是要在战略性新产业和未来产业中构筑供应链、产业链和创新链新优势。

Second, new quality productive forces also embody advancedness in terms of cognitive ability, knowledge innovation ability, scientific and technological innovation ability, and the relationship between division of labor and coordination. The development of advanced productive forces is premised on a tremendous enhancement of the ability to understand nature and society. An important prerequisite for every previous scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation was a great leap in humanity’s cognitive ability regarding the natural world and the human world. Taking the First Industrial Revolution as an example, through the Renaissance movement of the 14th–16th centuries and the Enlightenment movement of the 17th–18th centuries, the bourgeoisie and the masses in major European countries such as France gradually broke free from the ideological shackles of the feudal system and the church, turning instead to the pursuit of human rights and the worship of reason. [6]6 The Renaissance (14th–17th centuries) was a cultural movement in Europe that revived classical learning and emphasized humanism, challenging feudal and religious authority. The Enlightenment (17th–18th centuries) was an intellectual movement that championed reason, individual rights, and secular governance, laying ideological groundwork for bourgeois revolutions. Driven by the liberating effect of thought, humanity’s cognitive ability regarding nature and society continuously improved, promoting the flourishing development of the natural sciences and social sciences, and also driving the occurrence of the Industrial Revolution and the tremendous progress of social productive forces. Currently, with the progress of science and technology, humanity’s ability to understand and transform the world extends to more microscopic genes, more macroscopic universes, and deeper seabeds and Earth’s core, further promoting innovative development in new fields such as genetic engineering, new materials, aerospace, deep-sea exploration, and core exploration, and is forming new quality productive forces in these fields.

其次，新质生产力在认知能力、知识创新能力、科技创新能力、分工与协同关系方面也体现先进性。先进生产力的发展以对自然和社会认知能力的巨大提升为前提。历次科技革命和产业变革的重要前提就是人类对自然世界和人类世界的认知能力实现了巨大的提升。以第一次工业革命为例，通过14—16世纪的文艺复兴运动和17—18世纪的启蒙运动，法国等欧洲主要国家的资产阶级和人民大众逐渐摆脱了封建制度和教会的思想束缚，转向追求人的权利和崇拜理性。由于思想解放的推动作用，人类对自然和社会的认知能力不断提升，推动了自然科学和社会科学的繁荣发展，也推动了工业革命的发生和社会生产力的巨大进步。当前，随着科学技术的进步，人类认识世界和改造世界的能力延伸到更加微观的基因、更加宏观的宇宙、更加深邃的海底和地心等领域，进一步推动了基因工程、新材料、航空航天、深海探测和地心勘探等新领域的创新发展，正在形成该领域的新质生产力。

The development of new quality productive forces depends on the continuous leap in knowledge innovation ability. The acquisition, utilization, innovation, and accumulation of knowledge are important prerequisites for the continuous progress and development of human society. Advanced knowledge production capacity is an important source of progress and development for a country and society. In the era of the natural economy, knowledge was mainly accumulated through practical experience and limited scientific channels, and transmitted through the ancient education system; the accumulation and innovation of knowledge were relatively slow. In the era of the industrial economy, a large amount of knowledge could be obtained through modern scientific and technological means and precise research in laboratories, and knowledge inheritance and innovation were completed through the modern education system; the scale of knowledge accumulation was enormous, and the speed of innovation was very fast. In the era of the digital economy, cyberspace and digital technologies can further expand the scope of knowledge innovation, increase the speed of knowledge innovation, and thereby accelerate the dissemination and application of knowledge through networks and other channels. In the era of the industrial economy, knowledge innovation mainly came from professionals such as scientists and engineers; in the era of the digital economy, through the internet and digital platforms, ordinary laborers have also joined the ranks of knowledge creation, continuously improving the knowledge innovation ability of the entire society. The improvement of knowledge innovation ability drives the rapid development of social productive forces, especially the continuous “leap” of new quality productive forces.

新质生产力的发展依赖于知识创新能力的不断跃升。知识的获得、利用、创新和积累是人类社会不断进步和发展的重要前提。先进的知识生产能力是一个国家和社会发展进步的重要源泉。在自然经济时代，主要通过实践经验和有限的科学途径积累知识，并通过古代教育体制进行知识传递，知识的积累和创新相对比较缓慢。在工业经济时代，通过现代科技手段和实验室的精准研究可以获得大量的知识，并通过现代教育体系来完成知识的传承和创新等，知识的积累规模是巨大的，创新速度非常快。在数字经济时代，网络空间和数字技术等可以进一步扩大知识创新的范围，提升知识创新的速度，进而通过网络等途径加快知识的传播和应用。在工业经济时代，知识创新主要来源于科学家和工程师等专业人员；在数字经济时代，通过互联网和数字平台等，普通劳动者也加入了知识创造的行列，使得整个社会的知识创新能力不断提高。知识创新能力的提高，带动了社会生产力的快速发展，尤其是新质生产力的不断“跃升”。

The development of new quality productive forces requires scientific and technological innovation ability as important support. Science and technology constitute a primary productive force. The development of science and technology can greatly promote the progress of advanced productive forces. The main driving force for the development of new quality productive forces is scientific and technological innovation. By continuously promoting scientific and technological innovation in fields such as information technology, biotechnology, new energy, new materials, quantum information, genetic technology, future networks, deep sea, and aerospace through resource investment and talent cultivation, the innovative and sustainable development of new quality productive forces can be promoted.

新质生产力的发展需要科技创新能力作为重要支撑。科学技术是第一生产力。科学技术的发展可以极大地推动先进生产力的进步。新质生产力发展的主要推动力就是科技创新。通过资源投入和人才培养来不断推动信息技术、生物技术、新能源、新材料、量子信息、基因技术、未来网络、深海空天等领域的科技创新，就可以促进新质生产力的创新可持续发展。

The development of new quality productive forces requires a scientifically rational system of social division of labor and coordination. Developing advanced productive forces demands not only the enhancement of individual workers’ productive capacities but also the overall division of labor and coordination of society. Only through social division of labor and coordination can a “total productive force” be formed. In the modern market economy, the relations of division of labor and coordination extend to the specialized division of labor and coordination among workers within enterprises, the division of labor and coordination of products between enterprises, the division of labor and coordination of industrial chains between industries, the division of labor and coordination of value chains between regions, and the division of labor and coordination of production and trade networks between nations. Division of labor and coordination can raise the level of specialization, thereby increasing production efficiency, expanding market scale, and enhancing national competitiveness. In the era of the digital economy, with the development of the internet, digital technology, and the platform economy, the relations of division of labor and coordination that drive new quality productive forces have become more networked and digitized, not only reducing transaction costs but also improving the efficiency of capital circulation.

新质生产力的发展需要科学合理的社会分工与协同体系。发展先进生产力不仅需要劳动者个体生产能力的提高，还需要社会整体的分工和协作。只有通过社会的分工和协作才能形成“总和的生产力”。现代市场经济中，分工和协作关系覆盖到了企业内部的劳动者专业分工与协作、企业之间的产品分工与协作、行业之间的产业链分工与协作、地区之间的价值链分工与协作、国家之间的生产与贸易网络的分工与协作等。分工与协作可以提高专业化水平，进而提高生产效率，扩大市场规模，提高国家竞争力等。在数字经济时代，随着互联网、数字技术和平台经济的发展，推动新质生产力的分工与协作关系更加网络化和数字化，不仅降低了交易成本，还提升了资本循环的效率等。

4. Embodying Two Dialectical-Unity Relations of Advanced Productive Forces

4.体现先进生产力的两个辩证统一关系

From the standpoint of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, the advanced productive forces that propel the continuous progress of human society are both a unity of absoluteness and relativity and a unity of historicity and actuality. The advanced productive forces of any era share common characteristics such as revolutionary nature, pioneering nature, and high efficiency—this is their absoluteness. At the same time, the advanced productive forces of any era must adapt to specific production conditions and levels of science and technology, embodying the features of the times and being constrained by the level of scientific and technological development at that time—this is their relativity. Over the long term, the development of advanced productive forces changes continuously with the evolution of the times, and their center of development also shifts globally, possessing historical and worldwide characteristics. Simultaneously, advanced productive forces are developed on the basis of actual objects of labor, means of labor, and laborers, measured and manifested by the means of production that indicate the level of productive forces at the time, possessing practical and actual characteristics.

从辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义的立场来看，推动人类社会不断进步的先进生产力既是绝对性和相对性的统一，也是历史性和现实性的统一。任何时代的先进生产力都具有革命性、先导性和高效性等共性特征，这是其绝对性；同时，任何时代的先进生产力都必须与特定的生产条件和科技水平相适应，体现时代特征，受到当时科技发展水平的限制，这是其相对性。从长期来看，先进生产力的发展随着时代的变化而不断变化，其发展中心也是在世界范围内不断演变的，具有历史性和世界性特征。同时，先进生产力又是立足现实的劳动对象、劳动资料和劳动者等发展起来的，以生产工具来衡量和体现当时的生产力发展水平，具有实践性和现实性。

In the wave of the fourth scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, new quality productive forces, as a concrete manifestation of advanced productive forces, inevitably embody the dialectical unity of absoluteness and relativity, and of historicity and actuality. Currently, new quality productive forces are mainly embodied in strategic emerging industries such as the new generation of information technology, biotechnology, new energy, new materials, and high-end equipment, as well as in future industries such as brain-like intelligence, quantum information, gene technology, future networks, and deep-sea and aerospace development. The productive forces nurtured in these new industries and new fields are revolutionary and pioneering, playing a decisive role in promoting high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening and in building a modern industrial system. With the “leapfrog” development of the scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, new strategic industries and future industries will emerge, inevitably requiring us to continuously adapt to new demands and new changes.

在第四次科技革命和产业变革的浪潮中，新质生产力作为先进生产力的具体表现形式，必然体现绝对性和相对性、历史性和现实性的辩证统一关系。当前，新质生产力主要体现在新一代信息技术、生物技术、新能源、新材料、高端装备等战略性新兴产业，以及类脑智能、量子信息、基因技术、未来网络、深海空天开发等未来产业中，这些新产业和新领域所孕育的生产力是革命性和先导性的，对于推动高水平科技自立自强和构建现代化产业体系具有决定性作用。随着科技革命和产业变革的“跳跃式”发展，新的战略性产业和未来产业又会出现，必然要求我们不断去适应新需求和新变化。

From the history of scientific and technological revolutions, major breakthroughs in the field of science and technology always bring about industrial transformations, which in turn profoundly affect humanity’s mode of production and way of life. The First Industrial Revolution, represented by the invention and use of the steam engine, made large-scale machine production the main mode of production, leading to a great development in the cotton textile industry. The Second Industrial Revolution, represented by the invention and use of electricity, brought humanity into the age of electrification, with new technologies and inventions constantly emerging, promoting rapid economic development. The Third Scientific and Technological Revolution, marked by the invention and use of information technology, brought humanity into the age of informatization and networking. Currently, a new scientific and technological revolution, represented by 5G, artificial intelligence, graphene, virtual reality, quantum information technology, controlled nuclear fusion, and clean energy, is being nurtured and developed, and will have an even more profound impact on humanity’s mode of production and way of life. If the first three scientific and technological revolutions and industrial transformations were mainly led by Western countries, driving their modernization process, then the fourth scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is showing a trend of coexistence between East and West, forming a competitive landscape centered on the United States, China, and European countries. Whether from the historical reflection on the various setbacks suffered by the Chinese nation in modern times, or from the practical need to promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization, it is necessary to vigorously develop new quality productive forces, promote high-quality development, and build new advantages in international competition.

从科技革命史来看，科学技术领域的重大突破总会带来产业变革，进而深刻影响人类的生产方式和生活方式。第一次工业革命以蒸汽机的发明和使用为代表，大机器生产成为主要生产方式，棉纺织业出现了大发展。第二次工业革命以电气的发明和使用为代表，人类进入电气化时代，新技术和新发明不断出现，促进经济快速发展。第三次科技革命以信息技术等的发明和使用为标志，人类进入信息化、网络化时代。当前，以5G、人工智能、石墨烯、虚拟现实、量子信息技术、可控核聚变、清洁能源等为代表的新科技革命正在孕育和发展，将会对人类的生产方式和生活方式产生更加深刻的影响。如果说前三次科技革命和产业变革主要是西方国家主导的，推动了西方国家的现代化进程，那么第四次科技革命和产业变革正呈现出东西并存的趋势，形成了以美国、中国和欧洲国家为核心的竞争格局。无论是从近代中华民族遭受种种挫折的历史反思来看，还是以中国式现代化推动中华民族伟大复兴的实践需求来看，都需要通过大力发展新质生产力，推动高质量发展，构筑国际竞争新优势。

II. The Driving Forces and Sources of the Development of New Quality Productive Forces

二、新质生产力发展的动力与源泉

Understanding and applying laws is an important practical concept of Marxist political economy. To further deepen the understanding of the laws governing the development of new quality productive forces, it is necessary to focus on the causes, internal driving forces, and important sources of the development of new quality productive forces.

认识规律和运用规律是马克思主义政治经济学的重要实践观念。要进一步深化对新质生产力发展规律的认识，需要重点考虑新质生产力发展的动因、内在动力和重要源泉等。

1. New Changes in Demand Are the Causes of the Development of New Quality Productive Forces

1.需求新变化是新质生产力发展的动因

From the perspective of historical materialism, in the process of human social development, in order to continuously meet the material and spiritual needs of human production and life, productive forces are constantly improved and developed. To a certain extent, human needs are the driving force behind the development of productive forces. In a market economy, people’s consumption needs play an important guiding role in the development of productive forces. Marx believed that consumption produces production in two ways: first, “because the product only becomes a real product in consumption,” and second, “because consumption creates the need for new production, that is, it creates the ideal, internally motivating impulse for production, which is the prerequisite for production.” [7]7 Karl Marx, “Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy,” in *Marx-Engels Collected Works*, vol. 28 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1986), p. 31. It can be seen that consumption is both the purpose of production and the driving force of production. The main purpose of developing social productive forces is to meet people’s various new forms of consumption and new needs.

从历史唯物主义观点来看，在人类社会发展过程中，为了不断满足人类的生产和生活的物质需求和精神需求，不断改进和发展生产力。从某种程度上来讲，人的需求是推动生产力发展的动因。在市场经济中，人的消费需求对生产力的发展起着重要的牵引作用。马克思认为，消费从两方面生产着生产，一是“因为产品只是在消费中才成为现实的产品”，二是“因为消费创造出新的生产的需要，也就是创造出生产的观念上的内在动机，后者是生产的前提”。可见，消费既是生产的目的，也是生产的动力。发展社会生产力的主要目的就是要满足人们的各类新消费和新需求。

Entering the New Era, the principal contradiction in Chinese society has transformed into “the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development.” The transformation of the principal contradiction is essentially determined by the value logic of “people-centered” development and the logic of productive forces development guided by the new development philosophy. With the continuous development of socialist productive forces and the constant accumulation of social wealth, the needs of the people have undergone major changes. In the new stage of development, to meet the new changes in the people’s needs for diversity, multi-level aspects, and multi-faceted dimensions, it is inevitably necessary to vigorously develop advanced productive forces and create richer material and spiritual wealth. New quality productive forces are a concrete manifestation of advanced productive forces in the new stage of development and are also a decisive factor in adapting to new changes in demand. New quality productive forces are mainly embodied in strategic emerging industries such as the new generation of information technology, biotechnology, new energy, new materials, and high-end equipment, as well as in future industries such as brain-like intelligence, quantum information, gene technology, future networks, and deep-sea and aerospace development. The development of these strategic emerging industries and future industries is conducive to expanding the scope of people’s connections and improving communication efficiency, to raising medical standards and extending human lifespan, to saving labor and increasing production efficiency, to deeply exploring and understanding the natural world such as the universe and the deep sea, and to building new advantages in national competition. To continuously satisfy people’s curiosity in exploring and understanding the world, to continuously promote and improve the digitalization, intelligentization, greening, and servitization of humanity’s mode of production and way of life, to continuously build a modern industrial system and thereby promote high-quality development, and to continuously create increasingly rich material and spiritual wealth to meet people’s needs for a better life, it is necessary to vigorously develop new quality productive forces.

进入新时代，我国的社会主要矛盾已经转化为“人民日益增长的美好生活需要与不平衡不充分发展之间的矛盾”。社会主义矛盾的转化本质上是由“以人民为中心”的价值逻辑和以新发展理念为指引的生产力发展逻辑决定的。随着社会主义生产力的不断发展和社会财富的不断积累，人民群众的需求发生了重大变化。在新发展阶段，要满足人民群众需要多样化多层次多方面的新变化，必然要求大力发展先进生产力，创造更加丰富的物质财富和精神财富。新质生产力是新发展阶段先进生产力的具体体现，也是适应需求新变化的决定性因素。新质生产力主要体现在新一代信息技术、生物技术、新能源、新材料、高端装备等战略性新兴产业，以及类脑智能、量子信息、基因技术、未来网络、深海空天开发等未来产业中。这些战略性新兴产业和未来产业的发展，有利于扩大人们的联系范围和提高通讯效率，有利于提高医疗水平和延长人类寿命，有利于节约劳动力提高生产效率，有利于深入探索认识宇宙和深海等自然世界，有利于构筑国家竞争新优势。为了不断满足人们对世界探索和认识的好奇心，不断推动和改善人类生产和生活方式的数字化、智能化、绿色化和服务化水平，不断建设现代化产业体系进而推动高质量发展，不断创造越来越丰富的物质财富和精神财富来满足人们对美好生活的需要，就需要大力发展新质生产力。

2. The Organic Combination of the Various Elements of Productive Forces Dominated by Complex Labor Is the Internal Driving Force for the Development of New Quality Productive Forces

2.以复杂劳动主导的生产力诸要素的有机结合是新质生产力发展的内在动力

Internal causes are the fundamental driving force behind the development of things. In the process of human societal development, productive forces are always in a state of continuous progress. The internal driving force for the development of productive forces is the creative power formed by the organic integration of the various elements of productive forces, with labor as the leading factor. Among the various elements of productive forces, the laborer is the most active and dynamic leading element. The quality of laborers can affect or determine the level and quality of the development of productive forces. Means of labor, also referred to as instruments of labor, are the various conditions that influence and transform the objects of labor. Among these, the decisive role is played by the instruments of production. Human society has experienced the Stone Age, represented by stone tools; the Bronze Age, represented by bronze implements; the Steam Age, represented by the steam engine; the Electrical Age, represented by electrical equipment; and the Information Age, represented by computers and networks. It is currently undergoing the Digital Age, represented by data equipment, and is about to enter the Intelligent Age, represented by intelligent robots. The level of instruments of production in each era embodies the characteristics of that era and the level of development of productive forces. New quality productive forces are the type of productive forces in the era of the digital economy, with digital equipment and intelligent tools being the typical instruments of labor at this level of productive forces. The digitalization and intellectualization of instruments of labor promote the sophistication of the means of labor, which in turn helps to expand the scope of labor, enlarge the scale of production, and conserve labor power, thereby continuously driving revolutionary changes in productive forces. Objects of labor include unprocessed natural materials and processed raw materials. In each era, the objects of labor used by humanity to create social wealth are constantly changing. With the continuous development of science and technology, the objects of labor available to humanity are becoming increasingly abundant. In addition, non-material elements such as science and technology, management, information, and data are also important factors driving the development of productive forces.

内因是推动事物发展的根本动力。在人类社会的发展过程中，生产力总是不断进步。推动生产力发展的内在动力是劳动主导的生产力诸要素的有机结合形成的创造力。在生产力诸要素中，劳动者是最活跃、最能动的主导性要素。劳动者素质的高低会影响或决定生产力发展的水平和质量。劳动资料也称为劳动的手段，它影响和改变劳动对象的各类条件。其中起决定性作用的是生产工具。人类社会经历了以石器为代表的石器时代，以青铜器为代表的青铜器时代，以蒸汽机为代表的蒸汽机时代，以电器设备为代表的电气时代，以计算机和网络为代表的信息时代，正在经历以数据设备为代表的数字时代，即将进入以智能机器人为代表的智能时代。各个时代的生产工具水平都体现了时代的特色和生产力发展水平。新质生产力是数字经济时代的生产力类型，数字设备和智能工具是其生产力水平的典型劳动工具。劳动工具的数字化和智能化推动了劳动手段的高级化，进而有利于扩展劳动范围、扩大生产规模、节约劳动力，进而不断推动生产力发生革命性变革。劳动对象包括未经加工的自然物质和经过加工的原材料等。每个时代，人类用来创造社会财富的劳动对象都在发生变化。随着科学技术的不断发展，人类可以利用的劳动对象越来越丰富。除此之外，科技、管理、信息和数据等非实体性要素也是推动生产力发展的重要因素。

In the process of the development of productive forces, it is not dependent on any single element playing a role, but rather on the comprehensive function formed by the joint action of the various elements of productive forces. For the various elements of productive forces to achieve organic integration and exert their comprehensive effect, it mainly depends on two factors. First, the quality of laborers and the nature of their complex labor. In the era of the digital economy, high-quality laborers who master digital technology and knowledge can achieve higher labor productivity, thereby continuously promoting the progress of new quality productive forces. High-quality laborers are primarily engaged in complex labor. Marx pointed out: "More complex labor counts only as multiplied, or rather as multiplied, simple labor, so that a smaller quantity of complex labor is equal to a larger quantity of simple labor." [8]8 Karl Marx, *Capital*, Volume 1, Chapter 1, Section 2. Scientific and technological labor, managerial labor, and digital labor are all important forms of modern complex labor. High-quality laborers, through scientific and technological labor, managerial labor, and digital labor, can continuously increase labor productivity, promote the organic integration of the various elements of productive forces, and form a greater capacity for creating social wealth. Second, the combination of the various elements. The mode of combination of the material elements—laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor—and the non-material elements—science and technology, management, information, and data—determines the factor structure and technological structure of productive forces. Non-material elements such as science and technology, management, information, and data have a permeating effect; by changing the combination mode and technological structure of the material elements, they can exert a huge multiplier effect. Taking new quality productive forces as an example, with the continuous progress of science and technology, the factor structure of productive forces no longer relies solely on the simple input of material elements. Instead, it generates a multiplier effect through technological progress and the use of data elements. That is, it transforms from an original additive growth model relying on simple factor inputs to a multiplicative growth model driven by high-quality factor inputs, scientific and technological innovation, and data elements. The multiplier effect of the new growth model of productive forces comes from the high productivity and high added value brought about by scientific and technological innovation and data elements. In new quality productive forces, high-quality production factors such as high-quality laborers, high-tech elements, and key data resources play a leading role, which will promote the sophistication of the factor structure and technological structure of productive forces, thereby driving the development of new quality productive forces.

在生产力发展过程中，不是依赖于某一单一要素发挥作用，而是依赖于生产力诸要素共同作用形成的综合功能。生产力诸要素要实现有机结合并发挥综合，主要取决于两个方面的因素，一是劳动者的素质及其复杂劳动的情况。在数字经济时代，掌握数字技术和知识的高素质劳动者可以形成更高的劳动生产率，进而推动新质生产力不断进步。高素质的劳动者从事的主要是复杂劳动。马克思指出：“比较复杂的劳动只是自乘的或不如说多倍的简单劳动，因此，少量的复杂劳动等于多量的简单劳动。”科技劳动、管理劳动、数字劳动等都是现代复杂劳动的重要表现形式。高素质的劳动者，通过科技劳动、管理劳动、数字劳动可以不断提高劳动生产率，推动生产力诸要素之间有机结合，形成更大的社会财富创造能力。二是诸要素之间的组合情况。劳动者、劳动资料、劳动对象实体性要素和科技、管理、信息和数据等非实体性要素的组合方式，决定了生产力的要素结构和技术结构等。科技、管理、信息和数据等非实体性要素具有渗透性作用，通过改变实体性要素的组合方式和技术结构等，可以发挥巨大的乘数效应。以新质生产力为例，随着科学技术的不断进步，在生产力要素结构中，不再仅仅依靠实体性要素的简单投入，而是通过科技进步和使用数据要素等产生乘数效应，即由原来依靠简单要素投入的累加式增长方式转变为依靠高质量要素投入、科技创新驱动、数据要素推动的乘数式增长模式。生产力的新增长模式的乘数效应来自科技创新和数据要素等带来的高生产率和高附加值等。在新质生产力中，高素质劳动者、高科技要素和关键数据资源等高质量生产要素发挥主导作用，会推动生产力要素结构和技术结构高级化，进而推动新质生产力发展。

3. The Internal Contradictions of the Various Elements of Productive Forces and Their Resolution Are an Important Source for Promoting the Development of New Quality Productive Forces

3.生产力诸要素的内在矛盾和解决是推动新质生产力发展的重要源泉

Dialectical materialism holds that contradiction is the source and driving force for the development of things. The movement of contradictions in a relationship of unity of opposites can promote the development of things. The internal contradictions of the various elements of productive forces and their resolution are an important source for promoting the development of productive forces. The internal contradictions of the various elements of productive forces mainly include contradictions between subjects and contradictions between subject and object. These can be specifically broken down into contradictions among laborers, contradictions between laborers and instruments of production, contradictions between laborers and objects of labor, contradictions between instruments of production and objects of labor, and so on.

唯物辩证法认为，矛盾是推动事物发展的源泉和动力。处于对立统一关系的矛盾运动可以推动事物的发展。生产力诸要素的内在矛盾及其解决是推动生产力发展的重要源泉。生产力诸要素的内在矛盾主要包括主体之间的矛盾、主体与客体之间的矛盾，具体可以细分为劳动者之间的矛盾、劳动者与生产工具之间的矛盾、劳动者与劳动对象之间的矛盾、生产工具与劳动对象之间的矛盾等。

In the era of the digital economy, the development of new quality productive forces is the result of the joint promotion of the changes and movements of contradictions among the various elements of productive forces. Contradiction is a relationship of both opposition and unity between things. The contradictions among the various elements of productive forces are also embodied in various categories of the relationship of unity of opposites.

数字经济时代，新质生产力的发展是生产力诸要素之间矛盾变化和运动共同推动的结果。矛盾是事物之间既对立又统一的关系。生产力诸要素之间的矛盾也体现在各种对立统一的关系范畴中。

First, the contradictions among laborers are mainly reflected in the relationship of unity of opposites between physical labor and mental labor, and between individual labor and collective labor. The reason why laborers play a decisive role in the process of the development of productive forces is mainly that laborers can apply physical and mental strength to the production process, combining with the means of production to create new social wealth. With the continuous progress of productive forces, mental labor such as science and technology plays an increasingly significant role in the production process. The strategic emerging industries and future industries where new quality productive forces are concentrated are areas where science and technology need to play a leading role. These areas require a larger scale and higher quality of mental laborers. When the transformation of physical laborers into mental laborers in the production process reaches a qualitative leap, and the two achieve organic integration, only then can high-quality laborers in these areas promote the high-quality development of new quality productive forces. Laborers in the process of social reproduction can be divided into individual laborers and collective laborers. With the development of division of labor and cooperation, social reproduction mainly relies on organized collective labor. The higher the degree of socialization of production in a society, the larger the scale of collective labor determined by division of labor and cooperation, and the more connections there are between processes. At present, to develop new quality productive forces, it is necessary to continuously expand the scope of division of labor and cooperation in collective labor, give full play to the role of collective labor with high technological content and dense knowledge, vigorously improve the quality of labor reproduction, and continuously optimize the spatial distribution of labor among industries and regions, in order to better coordinate and resolve the contradiction between individual labor and collective labor.

其一，劳动者之间的矛盾主要体现在体力劳动与脑力劳动之间、个体劳动与集体劳动之间的对立统一关系。劳动者之所以在生产力发展过程中发挥决定性作用，主要源于劳动者可以运用体力和脑力作用于生产过程，结合生产资料一起创造出新的社会财富。随着生产力的不断进步，科学和技术等脑力劳动在生产过程中发挥着越来越重大的作用。新质生产力汇集的战略性新兴行业和未来产业等领域，是更需要科学技术发挥主导作用的领域。这些领域需要更大规模和更高质量的脑力劳动者。随着生产过程中体力劳动者向脑力劳动者转化达到质的飞跃，两者实现有机融合以后，这些领域的高质量劳动者才能推动新质生产力高质量发展。社会再生产过程中的劳动者有个体劳动者和集体劳动者之分。随着分工和协作的发展，社会再生产主要依赖于有组织的集体劳动来进行。一个社会的生产社会化程度越高，由分工和协作所决定的集体劳动规模就会越大，工序上的衔接就会越多。当前。发展新质生产力，需要不断拓展集体劳动的分工和协作范围，充分发挥科技含量高、知识密度厚的集体劳动的作用，大力提高劳动力再生产的质量，持续优化劳动力在产业和地区之间的空间布局，以此来更好统筹协调个体劳动和集体劳动之间的矛盾。

Second, the contradiction between the laborer and the means of production manifests in their mutual dependence and mutual promotion. First, the quality of the laborer determines the level at which the means of production are used. Purposefully making and using the means of production is a distinctive feature that distinguishes humans from other animals, and it is also a unique feature of human society’s creation of social wealth. The more developed the social productive forces, the higher the level of the means of production, the higher the quality of the laborer, the broader the range of means of production that can be used, and the higher the efficiency of their use. At the same time, the structure of the labor force embodied in the collective of laborers determines the structure of the system of means of production. In collective labor, the higher the proportion of high-level labor power, the broader the scope for using advanced means of production. Second, the level of the means of production constrains the level of labor productivity that the laborer can achieve. Under the same other production conditions and production environment, laborers using advanced means of production can create more social wealth. For example, in a modern factory, compared with laborers operating traditional machinery and equipment, laborers operating intelligent robots for production have higher labor productivity. The more advanced the means of production, the stronger the human ability to transform the world and create social wealth by using them. The development of advanced productive forces requires both high-quality laborers and advanced means of production. Scientists who master advanced science and technology, engineers with rich engineering experience, and skilled workers with superb skills are the high-quality laborers who promote the development of new quality productive forces. Deep-space probes, deep-sea detectors, core detectors, intelligent robots, supercomputers, and the like are the main means of production in fields such as strategic emerging industries and future industries. Only when these advanced means of production achieve greater technological breakthroughs and increase their application scenarios can high-quality laborers use these advanced means of production to create ever more social wealth.

其二，劳动者与生产工具之间的矛盾体现在两者总是互相依从和彼此促进的。首先，劳动者的素质决定了生产工具的使用水平。有目的地制造和使用生产工具是人类区别于其他动物的显著特征，也是人类社会创造社会财富的独有特征。社会生产力越发达，生产工具的水平越高，劳动者的素质越高，可以使用的生产工具的范围越广，利用效率越高。同时蕴含在劳动者集体之中的劳动力结构决定了生产工具体系的结构。在集体劳动中，高水平的劳动力占比越多，使用先进生产工具的范围就越大。其次，生产工具的水平制约着劳动者劳动生产率水平的发挥。在其他生产条件和生产环境一样的情况下，使用先进生产工具的劳动者可以创造更多的社会财富。例如，在现代工厂中，与劳动者操作传统机器设备相比，劳动者操作智能机器人进行生产的劳动生产率更高。生产工具越先进，人类利用其改造世界和创造社会财富的能力就越强。先进生产力的发展，既需要高素质的劳动者，也需要先进的生产工具。掌握先进科学技术的科学家、拥有丰富工程经验的工程师和怀揣高超技能的技术工人，他们是推动新质生产力发展的高素质劳动者。深空探测器、深海探测器、地心探测器、智能机器人、超级计算机等是战略性新兴产业和未来产业等领域主要的生产工具，只有这些先进的生产工具实现了更大的技术突破，增加了应用场景以后，高素质的劳动者使用这些先进的生产工具才能创造越来越多的社会财富。

Third, the contradiction between the laborer and the object of labor manifests in the dialectical relationship of transformation and being transformed between them. The object of labor comprises all material materials and non-material elements used to create social wealth through labor, including unprocessed natural objects, processed raw materials, and non-material elements. According to Marx, writing in the era of industrial machinery in which he lived, the object of labor was mainly material materials; in the era of the digital economy, the object of labor also includes non-material materials such as information and data. Laborers use the means of production to process the object of labor, creating various kinds of material wealth and spiritual wealth. In this labor process, the quality of the laborer and the advanced nature of the means of production determine the scope and depth of the object of labor that can be transformed; at the same time, the complexity of the object of labor constrains the degree to which the laborer can transform it. In the era of the digital economy, the process of developing new quality productive forces is precisely the dialectical unity of the process of transformation and being transformed between the laborer and the object of labor. The scope of the object of labor that laborers can transform using advanced technology and intelligent equipment has become broader, including outer space, the deep sea, the earth’s core, cells, new materials, cyberspace, and so on. At the same time, because the object of labor is becoming increasingly complex, laborers need to possess a higher level of scientific and technological capability and knowledge.

其三，劳动者与劳动对象之间的矛盾体现在两者之间改造与被改造的辩证关系中。劳动对象是使用劳动创造社会财富的一切物质材料和非物质元素等，包括未经加工的自然物、经过加工的原材料和非物质元素等。马克思根据其所处的工业大机器时代提出的劳动对象主要是物质材料，数字经济时代的劳动对象还包括信息和数据等非物质材料。劳动者利用生产工具等加工劳动对象，创造了各类物质财富和精神财富。在这一劳动过程中，劳动者的素质和生产工具的先进性决定了可以改造的劳动对象的范围和深度等；同时劳动对象的复杂程度又会制约劳动者改造劳动对象的程度。数字经济时代，发展新质生产力的过程，就是劳动者与劳动对象改造与被改造的辩证统一过程。劳动者利用先进科技和智能设备等可以改造的劳动对象范围更加广泛了，包括太空、深海、地心、细胞、新材料、网络空间等。同时，由于劳动对象越来越复杂，需要劳动者具备更高的科技水平和知识能力等。

Fourth, the contradiction between the means of production and the object of labor manifests in the relationship of mutual adaptation and mutual dependence between them. The means of production are situated between the laborer and the object of labor, primarily serving the important function of transmitting labor; they are an important marker of the level of development of the productive forces of human society. In different eras, the means of production representing different levels of productive forces can transform different objects of labor. In primitive society, humans used stone tools and sticks to obtain means of subsistence from nature; in the era of the agricultural economy, humans used iron tools and planting and breeding equipment to transform the land to obtain agricultural wealth; in the era of the industrial economy, humans created various kinds of mechanical equipment to create industrial wealth; in the era of the digital economy, humans use digital and intelligent machines, equipment, and tools to create digital wealth. It can be seen that every great advance in the means of production enables people to further understand and transform the unknown world and create new forms of wealth. In the era of the digital economy, to vigorously develop new quality productive forces, it is inevitably necessary to develop and use advanced means of production represented by artificial intelligence equipment and the like, and at the same time inevitably necessary to use advanced means of production to understand and explore new fields, create new business forms, and develop new industries. Only when the means of production and the object of labor continuously adapt to each other and, driven by the impetus of science and technology, form a qualitative improvement, can the large-scale progress of new quality productive forces be further promoted.

其四，生产工具与劳动对象之间的矛盾体现在两者之间的相互适应和相互依存的关系。生产工具是居于劳动者和劳动对象之间，主要起传导劳动的重要作用，它是人类社会生产力发展水平的重要标志。不同时代，代表不同生产力水平的生产工具可以改造的劳动对象是不一样的。在原始社会，人类利用石器和棍棒等在大自然中获取生产生活的资料；在农业经济时代，人类利用铁器和种养殖设备等来改造土地来获取农业财富；在工业经济时代，人类创造了各类机械设备来创造工业财富；数字经济时代，人类利用数字化和智能化的机器、设备和工具等来创造数字财富。可见，生产工具的每一次巨大进步使得人们可以进一步认识和改造未知世界，创造新的财富形态。数字经济时代，要大力发展新质生产力，必然要求开发和使用以人工智能设备等为代表的先进生产工具，同时必然要求利用先进生产工具去认识和探索新领域，创造新业态、发展新产业。只有生产工具和劳动对象之间不断适应，并在科学技术的推动作用下，形成质的提升，才能进一步推动新质生产力的大规模进步。

III. Partial Changes in Relations of Production and the Development of New Quality Productive Forces

三、生产关系的局部变革与新质生产力发展

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out during the eleventh collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee: “Relations of production must be compatible with the requirements of the development of productive forces. To develop new quality productive forces, it is necessary to further deepen reform comprehensively and form new-type relations of production that are compatible with them.” [9]9 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Eleventh Collective Study Session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee,” January 31, 2024. Relations of production in the broad sense refer to the relations of interest formed among people in production, distribution, exchange, and consumption, based on the ownership of the means of production. Accelerating the development of new quality productive forces requires constructing new-type relations of production to fully unleash their developmental potential.

习近平总书记在中共中央政治局第十一次集体学习时指出：“生产关系必须与生产力发展要求相适应。发展新质生产力，必须进一步全面深化改革，形成与之相适应的新型生产关系。”广义的生产关系是指以生产资料所有制为基础，人们在生产、分配、交换和消费中形成的利益关系。加快发展新质生产力，需要构建新型生产关系来充分释放其发展潜能。

1. Constructing Ownership of Data as a Factor of Production

1.构建数据要素所有制

Ownership of the means of production is the core category of relations of production; it directly determines and influences the specific relations in other links such as production, distribution, exchange, and consumption. China implements an ownership structure with public ownership as the main body and diverse forms of ownership developing side by side. This is an important level within the “three-in-one” structure of China’s basic economic system, [10]10 The “three-in-one” structure of China’s basic economic system refers to: (1) public ownership as the main body with diverse forms of ownership developing side by side; (2) distribution according to work as the main body with diverse modes of distribution coexisting; and (3) the socialist market economy system. guaranteeing the characteristics of the socialist system and adapting to the requirements of the market economy. For a long period, the ownership structure has been basically stable, but it will also undergo new changes in its concrete content as the economy and society develop. In the era of the digital economy, the basic framework of China’s ownership has not changed, but its concrete content is undergoing new expansions. For example, data as a factor of production, a key means of production for creating digital wealth, has begun to appear on a large scale, and its importance is increasingly prominent. Therefore, the issues of ownership and property rights of data as a factor of production have become salient.

生产资料所有制是生产关系的核心范畴，其直接决定和影响着生产、分配、交换和消费等其他环节的具体关系。我国实行以公有制为主体，多种所有制经济共同发展的所有制结构，这是我国基本经济制度中“三位一体”结构中重要的一个层次，保障了社会主义制度特征和适应了市场经济要求。在很长一段时间内，所有制结构基本上是稳定的，但也会随着经济社会的发展出现内涵的新变化。在数字经济时代，我国所有制的基本框架没有变化，但是具体内涵在发生新的拓展。例如，数据要素作为创造数字财富的关键生产资料开始大规模出现，其重要性日益突出，因此数据要素的所有制和产权问题的重要性就凸显了出来。

Data in the era of the digital economy, at the level of representation, consists of sounds, images, text, and video that can be directly recognized by humans; at the level of physical equipment, it consists of binary code that can be read by computers and other intelligent machines. In the era of the digital economy, data, as a key factor of production, is an important resource for directly or indirectly creating social wealth, and it is also an important basis for participating in the distribution of social wealth or income. Compared with factors of production such as land, capital, and labor, the generation of data as a factor of production is relatively complex, because the subjects that generate data are diverse. Data includes both data on production, transactions, and consumption generated by behavioral subjects such as individuals and enterprises, and various types of secondary data automatically generated by intelligent equipment and the like. The complexity of the subjects that generate data and the complexity of the generation process make it difficult to define the property rights of data. In practice, for data generated by different subjects and for different types of data, to whom the property rights ultimately belong remains unclear, and there are still problems such as unclear rules on data ownership and distribution. Unclear definition of property rights and unclear connotation of ownership hinder market transactions in data as a factor of production and also affect the healthy development of the data factor market.

数字经济时代的数据，在表现层面是可以被人类直接认知的声音、图片、文字和视频等，在物理设备层面则是可以被计算机等职能机器读取的二进制代码。在数字经济时代，数据作为关键的生产要素，是直接或间接创造社会财富的重要资源，也是参与社会财富或收入分配的重要依据。相比于土地、资本和劳动等生产要素，数据要素的产生是比较复杂的，原因是产生数据的主体是多元的。数据既包括个人、企业等行为主体产生的生产、交易、消费等数据，也包括智能设备等自动产生的各类次生数据。产生数据的主体的复杂性和产生过程的复杂性，使得界定数据的产权是困难的。在实践中，不同主体产生的数据，不同类型的数据，其产权到底归谁所有，目前仍然存在数据权属及其分配规则不清等问题。产权界定不清楚，权属内涵不明确，导致数据要素的市场交易受到阻碍，也影响了数据要素市场的健康发展。

Regarding the definition of property rights for data elements and the clarification of their functional connotations, the state has provided framework-level guiding opinions in policy. The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Establishing a Basic Data System to Better Leverage the Role of Data Elements" proposes establishing a system for the classification, grading, confirmation, and authorization of public data, enterprise data, and personal data, while also constructing a property rights operational mechanism based on the "three-rights separation" of the right to hold data resources, the right to process and use data, and the right to operate data products. Under the premise of separating ownership and use rights, the data property rights framework centered on the "three-rights separation" of data property rights downplays data ownership and focuses on data use rights. The purpose is to encourage and support the market-based trading and rational utilization of data elements under lawful and compliant conditions, thereby enhancing the economic and social value of data elements. On the basis of establishing a basic framework for data element property rights, it remains necessary to study and define the specific functions of data elements, such as the right of possession, the right of use, the right of distribution, the right of disposal, and the right to income. Building on the study of the specific functions of data elements, and considering the richness, widespread existence, and enormous value of data resources, it is necessary to establish a mixed ownership system for data elements, including state ownership, collective ownership, and private ownership (including ownership by individuals, enterprises, and platforms). Furthermore, to leverage the key role of data elements in creating social wealth, it is essential to establish and improve a data element market system and a corresponding income distribution system, based on data ownership and with the "three-rights separation" data property rights framework as a key connotation. This specifically includes determining and clarifying data element property rights, forming a price trading system, completing market trading institutions, forming a mechanism for remunerating data elements, and improving the data security and governance system.

针对数据要素产权的界定和权能内涵明晰问题，国家在政策方面提供了框架性的指导意见。《中共中央国务院关于构建数据基础制度更好发挥数据要素作用的意见》提出了要建立公共数据、企业数据、个人数据的分类分级确权授权制度，同时要构建数据资源持有权、数据加工使用权、数据产品经营权的“三权分置”的产权运行机制。在所有权和使用权两权分离前提下，以数据产权的“三权分置”为核心的数据产权制度框架，淡化了数据所有权，聚焦了数据的使用权，目的就是要在合法合规前提下，鼓励和支持数据要素的市场化交易和合理利用，提升数据要素的经济价值和社会价值。在建立数据要素产权基本框架基础上，仍然需要对数据要素的具体权能，如占有权、使用权、分配权、处置权和收益权等进行研究和界定。在研究数据要素的具体权能基础上，考虑到数据资源的丰富性、广泛存在性和价值的巨大性等，需要建立国有制、集体所有制和私有制（包括个人、企业和平台等所有）等混合型的数据要素所有制体制。除此之外，要发挥数据要素在社会财富创造中的关键作用，就必须以数据所有制为基础，以“三权分置”为核心的数据产权制度框架为重要内涵，建立健全数据要素市场体系和相应的收入分配体系。具体包括确定和明晰数据要素产权、形成价格交易体系、完成市场交易制度、形成数据要素报酬分配机制和健全数据安全和治理体系等。

2. Forming Direct Relations of Production Centered on Scientific and Technological Innovation

2.形成以科技创新为主的直接生产关系

From the perspective of direct production, scientific and technological progress is a key variable driving the development of new quality productive forces. The key to developing new quality productive forces lies in promoting high-level scientific and technological innovation. From the perspective of adjusting specific relations of production, it is necessary to reform the scientific and technological innovation system to further unleash the vitality and potential of scientific and technological innovation.

从直接生产角度来看，科技进步是推动新质生产力发展的关键变量。发展新质生产力，关键在于推动高水平科技创新。从调整具体生产关系的视角来看，需要改革科技创新制度，进一步释放科技创新活力和潜力。

At present, China's scientific and technological level has risen to the forefront of the world, but the capacity to achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, and the scientific and technological system supporting high-quality Chinese-path modernization, still need further improvement. Factors constraining China's scientific and technological progress include not only resource guarantees, funding investment, and talent cultivation, but also institutional issues such as systems and mechanisms. To further promote the high-quality development of new quality productive forces through scientific and technological productive forces, it is necessary to build a collaborative innovation system involving multiple entities, including the government, enterprises, and residents. Large-scale and efficient government-led organized scientific research is an important mode of modern technological development. During World War II, the U.S. government-led "Manhattan Project" and "Radar Project" and other large-scale scientific research projects, as well as during the third scientific and technological revolution, projects such as large-scale computers and network engineering led by the U.S. Department of Defense, formed a new model of government-led major scientific research projects. In the process of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, China's major scientific research projects such as the "Two Bombs, One Satellite," [11]11 "Two Bombs, One Satellite" (两弹一星) refers to China's successful development of nuclear weapons (atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb) and artificial satellites in the 1960s and 1970s, a landmark achievement of state-led scientific research. "BeiDou Navigation Satellite System," and "National Space Station" have all been accomplished through government leadership. Therefore, in the New Era, when facing major, foundational, and cutting-edge scientific research and technological change projects, it is necessary to continue to leverage the government's leading role, organizing the nation's scientific and technological forces through methods such as "mission-driven," "collective tackling of key problems," "open competition for project leadership," [12]12 "Open competition for project leadership" (揭榜挂帅) is a Chinese policy mechanism where research projects are publicly announced, and teams or individuals compete openly to lead them, aiming to select the best talent. "major science and technology special projects," and "major industrial funds," thereby giving full play to the advantages of the new nationwide system for mobilizing resources. [13]13 "New nationwide system for mobilizing resources" (新型举国体制) refers to a modernized version of China's traditional state-led mobilization system, combining state strategic direction with market mechanisms to achieve breakthroughs in key technologies.

目前，中国科技水平已经跃升到了世界前列，但是实现高水平科技自立自强的能力和支持中国式现代化高质量发展的科技体系还有待进一步提升。制约中国科技进步既有资源保障、经费投入、人才培养等方面的因素，也有体制机制等制度性问题。要进一步以科技生产力推动新质生产力的高质量发展，需要构建有政府、企业、居民等多元主体参与的协同创新制度体系。大规模和高效的政府主导的有组织科研是现代科技发展的重要方式。在第二次世界大战中美国政府主导的“曼哈顿工程”和“雷达工程”等大规模科研项目，以及在第三次科技革命过程中，美国国防部等主导的大型计算机和网络工程项目等，形成了政府主导重大科研项目的新模式。在中国特色社会主义建设过程中，我国的“两弹一星”“北斗导航”“国家空间站”等重大科研项目都是通过政府主导来完成的。因此，在新时代，面对一些重大性、基础性、前沿性的科学研究和技术变革等重大项目，需要继续发挥政府主导作用，通过“任务牵引”“集体攻关”“揭榜挂帅”“科技大专项”“产业大基金”等方式，将全国的科技力量组织起来，发挥新兴举国体制优势。

In the fields of scientific and technological research and development, application, and marketization, enterprises are the main body of modern scientific and technological innovation. Therefore, first, it is necessary to continuously build an institutional system that supports enterprises in scientific and technological innovation. The focus should be on providing more policy support in areas such as R&D investment, product innovation, technological updates, equipment transformation, and market expansion, so that more enterprises dare to innovate and are willing to innovate. Second, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of an intellectual property protection system, with a focus on cracking down on infringement in the intellectual property field. Through positive interaction between legislation and law enforcement, intellectual property should be protected, stimulating the original impetus for enterprises to engage in scientific and technological innovation. Third, it is necessary to build new science and technology parks for digital technology industries, strategic emerging industries, and future industries. Through the construction of new innovation parks, industrial clusters of new technologies, new industries, and new sectors supporting the development of new quality productive forces should be formed, creating economies of scale and scope, and further leading the trend of scientific and technological innovation and industrial transformation.

科技研发、运用和市场化领域，企业是现代科技创新的主体。因此，一是需要不断构建支持企业进行科技创新的制度体系。重点在研发投入、产品创新、技术更新、设备改造、市场拓展等方面给予更多政策性支持，让更多的企业敢于创新和乐于创新。二是需要加快知识产权保护制度建设力度，重点打击知识产权领域的侵权行为，通过立法和执法环节的良性互动来保护知识产权，激发企业进行科技创新的原始动力。三是打造新型的数字技术产业、战略性新兴产业和未来产业的科技园区，通过新创新园区的建设，形成支撑新质生产力发展的新科技、新产业和新行业等产业集群，形成规模效应和范围效应，进一步引领科技创新和产业变革的潮流。

Scientific and technological innovation relies on the participation of high-quality residents. On the one hand, it is necessary to cultivate a high-quality labor force, enabling more people to receive higher education and accumulate a high level of scientific and technological knowledge. Particular attention should be paid to the cultivation of scientists, engineers, and social science scholars, transforming China's "demographic dividend" into a "talent dividend," continuously improving the scale and quality of higher education, and enabling more residents to become future talents in innovation and entrepreneurship. On the other hand, it is necessary to rely on high-quality workers to form a vast consumer market for scientific and technological products. Only with strong consumer demand can sustainable scientific and technological innovation be supported. Therefore, attention must be paid to cultivating the scientific and technological consumer market, driving innovation in the supply of scientific and technological products and services by expanding market demand.

科技创新需要依靠高素质居民的参与。一方面需要通过高素质的劳动力培养，让更多的人接受高等教育，形成高积累的科技知识。尤其是注重科学家、工程师和社会学者等的培养，将中国的“人口红利”转变为“人才红利”，不断提高高等教育的规模和质量，让更多的居民成为未来的创新创业人才。二是需要依靠高素质的劳动者形成庞大的科技产品的消费市场。有强大的消费需求才能支持可持续的科技创新。因此，必须重视科技消费市场的培养，通过扩大市场需求来推动科技产品和服务的供给创新。

Building a collaborative innovation system to promote the development of scientific and technological productive forces does not mean that the government, enterprises, and residents each exert force separately. Instead, by constructing a new nationwide system for mobilizing resources for scientific and technological innovation, the government should play a leading role in major and foundational cutting-edge scientific and technological fields, key areas related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and core areas of international scientific, technological, and industrial competition. Scientific and technological innovation and industrial transformation should be promoted through "big science" and "big industry" organizations. In areas such as original innovation and applied innovation in major technologies, the decisive role of the market in resource allocation should be fully utilized, channeling high-quality resources to enterprises with high innovation efficiency through market mechanisms. In the supply of high-quality scientific and technological workers and the consumption of scientific and technological products, the role of residents should be fully leveraged, further releasing the advantages of the "talent dividend." The government, enterprises, and residents are organically integrated collaborative innovation entities. Therefore, through science education, institutional innovation, policy support, and organizational guarantees, a collaborative innovation system that truly promotes the high-quality development of new quality productive forces should be established and improved. This will promote the construction of a modern industrial system through scientific and technological innovation, thereby driving the high-quality development of advanced productive forces.

构建推动科技生产力发展的协同创新制度体系，不是政府、企业和居民分别发力，而是通过构建科技创新的新型举国体制，在重大和基础性科技前沿领域、事关国计民生的关键领域、国际科技和产业竞争的核心领域，政府要发挥主导作用，通过“大科学”“大产业”组织来推动科技创新和产业变革。在重大科技的原始创新、应用创新等领域，要充分发挥市场在资源配置中的决定性作用，通过市场机制推动优质资源流向创新效率高的企业。在高素质科技劳动者供给和科技产品的消费领域要充分发挥居民的作用，让“人才红利”优势进一步充分释放。政府、企业与居民是有机结合的协同创新主体，因此需要通过科学教育、制度创新、政策支持和组织保证等，真正建立健全促进新质生产力高质量发展的协同创新制度体系，以科技创新促进现代化产业体系建设，进而推动先进生产力的高质量发展。

3. Forming Distribution Relations That Highlight the Contribution of Data Elements and Scientific and Technological Elements

3.形成突出数据要素和科技要素贡献的分配关系

Marx pointed out: "Distribution relations are essentially identical with these relations of production, their opposite side, so that both share the same historically transient character." [14]14 This quotation is from Karl Marx, *Capital*, Volume III, Chapter 51, "Relations of Distribution and Relations of Production." Therefore, to liberate and develop new quality productive forces, it is necessary to continuously transform relations of production, especially distribution relations. The mode of distribution is a concrete form reflecting the distribution relations of a society. Under a given system of ownership, examining a society's distribution relations requires focusing on its mode of distribution. Generally speaking, the level of development of productive forces determines the mode of distribution, while the mode of distribution in turn affects the development of productive forces. Currently, problems in the mode of distribution that constrain the development of new quality productive forces are mainly reflected in the distribution of income from data elements, the distribution of scientific and technological labor, and the distribution of complex labor.

马克思指出：“分配关系本质上和这些生产关系是同一的，是生产关系的反面，所以二者共有同样的历史的暂时的性质。”因此，要解放和发展新质生产力，需要不断变革生产关系，尤其是分配关系。分配方式是体现一个社会分配关系的具体形式。在既定的所有制制度下，考察一个社会的分配关系需要重点研究其分配方式。一般来讲，生产力的发展水平决定了分配方式，同时分配方式又会影响生产力的发展。当前，制约新质生产力发展的分配方式的问题主要体现在数据要素收益的分配、科技劳动的分配、复杂劳动的分配等。

Data elements are an important means of production that participate in social creation in the era of the digital economy. On the one hand, data elements, as penetrating factors, participate in production together with other factors of production, which can enhance labor productivity; on the other hand, data elements, as the primary means of production, directly create new digital wealth in combination with other elements, such as digital products like videos, audio, copywriting, and images. As a key means of production, data’s participation in the creation of social wealth inevitably adapts to the distribution rules of the market economy, and rights holders such as owners of data elements necessarily demand corresponding returns. However, the characteristics of data elements, such as fragmentation and ease of replication, mean that the confirmation of property rights for data elements faces multiple challenges, including the definition of rights holders, the division of powers, and the distribution of returns. This requires establishing a property rights system based on the separation of ownership and use rights, through a “three-rights separation” [15]15 The “three-rights separation” (三权分置) refers to a property rights framework that separates ownership, use rights, and other rights (such as the right to benefit), originally applied to rural land and here extended to data elements. property rights framework to form the institutional basis for data rights confirmation and return distribution. At the same time, data elements have both factor attributes and commodity attributes. For example, an image is an image data element; through the action of generative artificial intelligence, it can be synthesized with other image data to form a new image. This new image becomes a commodity in market exchange while simultaneously becoming new data within the image data. This dual attribute of data necessarily requires that the distribution of commodities produced with data elements as core production factors consider both the ownership of data elements and the ownership of commodities. Additionally, in the process of prosumption labor [16]16 “Prosumption labor” (产消型劳动) refers to labor where production and consumption are combined, a concept derived from Alvin Toffler’s “prosumer,” applied here to digital platforms where users generate data through consumption activities. in cyberspace and elsewhere, consumers are both consumers and producers of data elements or data commodities, which requires establishing a new distribution mechanism based on ordinary workers’ ability to share in the returns from data elements.

数据要素是数字经济时代参与社会创造的重要生产资料。一方面，数据要素作为渗透性要素，与其他生产要素一起参与生产，可以提升劳动生产率；另一方面，数据要素作为主要的生产资料，在与其他要素的结合中，直接创造出新的数字财富，例如视频、音频、文案和图片等数字产品等。数据作为关键的生产资料，其参与社会财富的创造，必然会适应市场经济的分配规则，数据要素的所有者等权利主体必然要求获得相应的收益。但是，数据要素的分散性、易复制性等特征，使得数据要素的产权确认面临着权利主体界定、权能划分和收益分配等多重挑战，这就需要在构建所有权和使用权两权分离基础上，通过“三权分置”产权框架为数据确权和收益分配形成产权制度基础。同时，数据要素既有要素属性，又具有商品属性。例如，一张图片属于图片数据要素，通过生成式人工智能的作用，可以与其他图片数据一起合成一张新图片。这张新图片在市场交换中成为商品，同时又成为图片数据中的新数据。数据的这种双重属性，必然要求对由数据要素作为核心生产要素生产的商品的分配，既要考虑数据要素所有权，又要考虑商品所有权。另外，在网络空间等中的产消型劳动过程中，消费者既是消费者也是数据要素或数据商品的生产者，这就要求建立基于普通劳动者可以共享数据要素收益的新型分配机制。

To develop new quality productive forces, scientific and technological progress is key, and the important driving force of scientific and technological progress is scientific and technological workers. In a market economy, the key to incentivizing more high-quality laborers to engage in high-quality scientific and technological innovation activities, produce high-quality scientific and technological achievements, and form high-quality scientific and technological products is to establish and improve an income distribution system that can stimulate the innovation motivation and vitality of scientific and technological workers. Current problems in the field of income distribution for scientific and technological workers include: first, except for some leading R&D enterprises, the income of scientific and technological workers in general types of technology enterprises fails to reflect their value contribution; the income of scientific and technological workers in research institutes and similar institutions is subject to excessive administrative control, and the market-oriented income distribution system needs further strengthening. Second, the income distribution mechanism for patent transfers needs further reform. Because invention patents and the like produced by workers engaged in scientific research in China’s research institutes and state-owned enterprises and institutions generally belong to the unit, in the process of patent transfer income distribution, the proportion reflecting unit income is large, while the income distribution reflecting the contribution of scientists and inventors is relatively low. This affects the innovation enthusiasm of scientific and technological workers and also affects the scale and speed of the market-oriented transformation of scientific and technological patents. Therefore, it is necessary to reform the income distribution system for state-owned and collectively owned patent transfers, to coordinate the income distribution ratio between units and individuals, and to tilt income distribution more towards scientists and other individuals who make important contributions.

发展新质生产力，科技进步是关键，科技进步的重要推动力量是科技劳动者。在市场经济中，激励更多的高素质劳动者从事高质量的科技创新活动，产出高质量的科技成果，形成高品质的科技产品，关键是要建立健全能够激发科技劳动者创新动力和活力的收入分配制度。当前在科技劳动者的收入分配领域存在的问题，一是除一些头部研发企业，一般类型科技企业中科技劳动者的收入未能体现其价值贡献，科研院所等的科技劳动者的收入受行政管制较多，市场化的收入分配制度有待进一步加强。二是专利转让的收入分配机制需要进一步改革。由于我国的科研院所和国有企事业单位从事科研工作的劳动者所产生的发明专利等一般属于单位所有，在专利转让过程中收入分配中体现单位收入的比重大，体现科学家和发明人贡献的收入分配相对较低，这影响了科技劳动者的创新积极性，也影响了科技专利市场化转化的规模和速度，因此需要改革国有和集体所有的专利转让的收入分配制度，统筹协调好单位和个人的收入分配比例，收入分配要更多向科学家等作出重要贡献的个人倾斜。

China’s basic income distribution system is distribution according to work as the mainstay, with multiple forms of distribution coexisting. In the era of the digital economy, how to embody distribution according to work as the mainstay relates to the scientific nature of the basic income distribution system and also to residents’ sense of income attainment. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish the concepts and boundaries of “laborers” and “labor” within “distribution according to work.” The “labor” in “distribution according to work” should be “labor”; in the era of the digital economy, vigorously developing new quality productive forces requires focusing on highlighting the role and value of complex labor. Combined with the expansion of the connotation of labor in the new technological revolution and new industrial transformation, the labor that develops new quality productive forces is mainly complex labor. Complex labor should be high-quality labor, including knowledge labor, management labor, scientific and technological labor, and data labor. Complex labor is the main driving force for promoting the development of new quality productive forces. Therefore, according to the incentive principles of the market economy, the focus of income distribution should tilt towards knowledge workers, management workers, scientific and technological workers, and data workers who engage in complex labor.

我国的基本收入分配制度是按劳分配为主体，多种分配方式并存。在数字经济时代，如何体现按劳分配为主体，关系到基本收入分配制度的科学性问题，也关系到居民的收入获得感问题。因此，需要区分“按劳分配”中的劳动者和劳动的概念和边界。“按劳分配”中的“劳”应该是“劳动”，在数字经济时代大力发展新质生产力，重点要突出复杂劳动的作用和价值。结合新科技革命和新产业变革中劳动内涵的扩展，发展新质生产力的劳动主要是复杂劳动。复杂劳动应该是高质量的劳动，包括知识劳动、管理劳动、科技劳动和数据劳动等。复杂劳动是推动新质生产力发展的主要推动力，因此按照市场经济的激励原则，收入分配的重点应该是向从事复杂劳动的知识劳动者、管理劳动者、科技劳动者和数据劳动者等倾斜。

4. Perfecting Exchange Relations Centered on a High-Level Market Economy System

4.完善高水平市场经济体制为主的交换关系

The market is a collection of exchange venues and institutional structures. To develop new quality productive forces, it is necessary to build a high-level market economy system to promote the advanced development of exchange relations. First, enterprises are the most important micro-entities in the market economy. Only when enterprises have motivation, vitality, and creativity can they promote the vigorous development of high-tech industries, strategic emerging industries, and future industries. Therefore, it is necessary to further create a good development environment through systems such as “streamlining administration, delegating power, improving regulation, and upgrading services” [17]17 “Streamlining administration, delegating power, improving regulation, and upgrading services” (放、管、服) is a Chinese government reform slogan aimed at reducing bureaucratic controls, improving market oversight, and enhancing public services., while simultaneously providing more policy support to innovative enterprises through fiscal, tax, industrial, and income policies, and encouraging innovative enterprises to establish a “profit-oriented” development model. Second, by perfecting the property rights system, market access system, factor market system, fair competition system, and market opening system, vigorously build a high-standard market system. Building a high-standard market system provides important exchange system support for developing new quality productive forces, promotes dual circulation [18]18 “Dual circulation” (双循环) refers to China’s economic strategy emphasizing both domestic circulation (internal demand and supply) and international circulation (global trade and investment), formally adopted in 2020., and continuously accelerates the speed of capital circulation. Third, accelerate the high-quality construction of data and scientific and technological factor markets. To develop new quality productive forces, in addition to high-quality labor, various types of entrepreneurial and investment capital, and other traditional production factors, it is necessary to leverage the key core role of data elements and scientific and technological elements. This requires vigorously building diversified and categorized high-standard factor markets. Through price mechanisms, allocation methods, and service innovation reforms, on the one hand, form a unified national factor market; on the other hand, stimulate the vitality and creativity of various factor entities, further leveraging the key role of data elements in developing new quality productive forces. Finally, build high-level and internationalized domestic and international markets. In a modern open international economic environment, developing new quality productive forces cannot be done behind closed doors; it requires actively integrating into the international market, participating in international exchanges and cooperation, expanding international market space, coordinating the use of international and domestic natural resources, scientific and technological resources, human resources, and market resources, and coordinating the use of both international and domestic markets to expand the market space for products and services, promoting product innovation and service innovation in related industries through the optimization and upgrading of market demand.

市场是交换场所和制度结构的集合。要发展新质生产力，就需要构建高水平市场经济体制来推动交换关系的高级化发展。首先，企业是市场经济中最主要的微观主体，只有企业有动力、有活力和有创造力，才能推动高新技术产业、战略性新兴产业和未来产业的蓬勃发展。因此，需要“放、管、服”等制度进一步营造良好的发展环境，同时通过财政、税收、产业和收入政策等，给予创新型企业更多的政策性支持，鼓励创新型企业建立“利润导向性”的发展模式等。其次，通过完善产权制度、市场准入制度、要素市场制度、公平竞争制度、市场开放制度等，大力建设高标准市场体系。通过建设高标准市场制度来为发展新质生产力提供重要的交换制度支持，促进双循环，不断加快资本循环的速度。再次，加快数据和科技要素市场等的高质量建设。发展新质生产力，除了高质量的劳动力、各类创业和投资资本等传统生产要素以外，需要发挥数据要素和科技要素等的关键核心作用，这就需要大力构建多元化、分类别的高标准要素市场。通过价格机制、配置方式和服务创新改革等，一方面形成全国统一的要素大市场，另一方面激发各类要素主体的活力和创造力，进一步发挥数据要素等在发展新质生产力中的关键性作用。最后，建设高水平和国际化的国际国内两个市场。在现代开放的国际经济环境下，发展新质生产力不能闭门造车，而是需要主动融入国际市场，参与国际交流和合作，开拓国际市场空间，统筹利用国际国内的自然资源、科技资源、人力资源和市场资源等，统筹利用国际国内两大市场来扩张产品和服务的市场空间，以市场需求的优化升级推动相关产业的产品创新和服务创新等。

5. Integrating the “Three Aspects” of Consumption Relations

5.融合“三个方面”的消费关系

Consumption relations are an important aspect of production relations. In the era of the digital economy, to vigorously develop digital productive forces, it is necessary to continuously transform consumption relations to adapt to the development of advanced productive forces. Consumption relations involve three aspects: natural consumption relations, social consumption relations, and natural-social consumption relations. From the level of natural consumption relations, it is necessary to implement the new development philosophy, especially the concept of green development, and correctly handle the relationship between humans and nature, and between nature and nature. The key is to handle the consumption relationship between humans and natural resources and ecological resources. New energy and new materials are important contents of the development of new quality productive forces, and they are also new ways to adjust natural consumption relations and achieve green and sustainable development under the resource constraints of protecting nature and ecology. From the perspective of green development, the relationship between humans and nature must be reconstructed, transforming natural consumption relations from simple utilization to a new development path that emphasizes protection, development, and substitution equally.

消费关系是生产关系的一个重要方面。数字经济时代，要大力发展数字生产力，需要不断变革消费关系，来适应先进生产力的发展。消费关系涉及三个方面：自然消费关系、社会消费关系和自然社会消费关系。从自然消费关系层次来看，要贯彻新发展理念，尤其是绿色发展理念，必须正确处理好人与自然、自然与自然的关系，关键是要处理好人对自然资源和生态资源的消费关系。新能源、新材料等是新质生产力发展的重要内容，也是在保护自然和生态的资源约束下，调整自然消费关系，实现绿色可持续发展的新途径。在绿色发展视阈下，必须重构人与自然的关系，将自然消费关系由单纯的利用转变到保护、开发和替代并重的新发展路径上来。

Social consumption relations involve the relationships among various social factors in consumption, including the relationship between individual and collective consumption, the relationship between individual consumers and consumption objects, the consumption relationship between the present and the future, and the consumption relationships among different occupational groups and different income groups. Currently, to vigorously develop new quality productive forces, it is necessary to solve the relationship between production and consumption, promoting a leap in productive forces through supply-side structural reform, and expanding consumption power through demand-side reform.

社会消费关系涉及消费中的各类社会因素之间的关系，包括个人与集体消费的关系、消费者个体与消费对象之间关系、当前与未来之间的消费关系，以及不同职业群体和不同收入群体之间的消费关系等。当前，大力发展新质生产力，就需要解决好生产与消费的关系，通过供给侧结构性改革推动生产力的跃升，通过需求侧改革推动消费力的扩张。

In terms of enhancing consumption capacity and expanding the scale of consumption, institutional innovation is needed to properly resolve contradictions within and between the four categories of consumption relations. First, rationally allocate social accumulation, give play to the leading role of the government and the resource-allocating role of the market, increase the supply quantity and quality of collective consumption, better address public services such as housing, transportation, medical care, education, and elderly care, reduce residents’ public service expenditures, and better release individual consumption. Second, conform to the development trend of the digital economy, vigorously develop industries such as new energy, scientific and technological medical care, high-quality education, high-quality leisure tourism, and high-security elderly care services, continuously cultivate digital consumption capacity, make digital consumption and green consumption the mainstream of consumption, and better meet consumers’ diversified, personalized, and green consumption psychology and needs. Third, through income doubling plans and other measures, continuously consolidate the purchasing power foundation for consumption expansion. Use modern digital technology and financial innovation means to appropriately expand intertemporal consumption, with a focus on cultivating new consumer groups such as young people and the elderly. Fourth, through sustainable economic development and reform of the income distribution system, continuously cultivate and expand the middle-income group, continuously raise the income of low-income groups, continuously regulate illegal income and gray income, and gradually resolve the problem of excessive income disparity between different industries and groups by establishing and improving a basic income distribution system coordinated by primary distribution, redistribution, and tertiary distribution.

就提升消费力和扩大消费规模来讲，需要制度创新来解决好四对消费关系范畴内和范畴之间的矛盾。一是合理分配社会积累，发挥政府的主导作用和市场的资源配置作用，增加集体消费的供给数量和质量，更好解决好住房、交通、医疗、教育、养老等公共服务，降低居民的公共服务支出，更好释放个人消费。二是顺应数字经济发展趋势，大力发展新能源、科技医疗、高质量教育、高品质休闲旅游、高保障养老服务等行业，不断培育数字消费力，让数字消费、绿色消费等成为消费的主流，更好满足消费者个人的多元化、个性化和绿色化等的消费心理和需求。三是通过收入倍增计划等，不断夯实消费扩张的购买力基础。利用现代数字技术和金融创新手段等，适当扩大跨期消费，重点培养青年人和老年人等新消费群体等。四是通过经济可持续发展和收入分配制度改革等，不断培育壮大中等收入群体，不断提高低收入群体的收入，不断规制非法收入和灰色收入，通过建立健全以初次分配、再分配和三次分配相互协调的基础性收入分配制度，逐步解决不同行业和不同群体之间的收入差距过大问题。

The natural-social consumption relation involves the interactive relationship between the natural process and the social process of consumption. The interaction here includes the impact of consumers’ natural consumption on the natural environment and social environment, as well as the influence of the social environment in which consumers are situated on people’s understanding and actions regarding the use, transformation, and consumption of nature. Developing new quality productive forces requires, on the one hand, that we humans use technological innovation to create new energy sources, new materials, and new products to replace excessive extraction from traditional nature; on the other hand, it also requires following advanced development concepts to re-understand the relationships between humans and nature, humans and ecology, humans and technology, and humans and consumption, thereby further promoting the sustainable development of human economy and society.

自然社会消费关系涉及消费的自然过程和社会过程的互动关系。这里的互动包括消费者的自然消费对自然环境和社会环境的影响，以及消费者所处的社会环境对人们利用自然、改造自然和消费自然的认识和影响等。发展新质生产力，一方面需要我们人类通过科技创新来创造新能源、新材料、新产品等取代对传统自然界的过度攫取，另一方面也要遵循先进的发展理念来重新认识人与自然、人与生态、人与技术、人与消费的关系，进一步推动人类经济社会的可持续发展。

IV. Practical Pathways for Accelerating the Development of New Quality Productive Forces

四、加快发展新质生产力的实践路径

Developing new quality productive forces is the key to building Chinese-path modernization, an important support for enhancing China’s international competitiveness and comprehensive national power, and a realistic guarantee for better meeting the people’s needs for a better life. Therefore, at the practical level, it is necessary to firmly grasp high-quality development as the primary task and, in light of local conditions, adopt multiple measures simultaneously to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces.

发展新质生产力是建设中国式现代化的关键所在，是提升我国的国际竞争力和综合国力的重要支撑，是更好地满足人民群众对美好生活需要的现实保障。因此，在实践层面上需要牢牢把握高质量发展这个首要任务，因地制宜、多措并举推动新质生产力加快发展。

1. Taking high-tech innovation as the driving force to accelerate the achievement of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening

1.以高新技术创新为牵引，加快实现高水平科技自立自强

Based on the new stage of development, accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces is an inherent requirement for achieving high-quality economic development, and scientific and technological innovation is the key to developing new quality productive forces. In the new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation, new technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, graphene, quantum communication, and controlled nuclear fusion are accelerating their evolution. We must strengthen basic research, enhance the efficiency of the innovation system, improve the mechanism for transforming scientific and technological achievements, and take high-tech innovation as the driving force to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces.

立足新发展阶段，加快形成新质生产力是实现经济高质量发展的内在要求，而科技创新是发展新质生产力的关键所在。在新一轮科技革命和产业变革浪潮中，5G、人工智能、石墨烯、量子通信、可控核聚变等新技术正在加速演进，我们必须强化基础研究，提升创新体系效能，完善科技成果转化机制，以高新技术创新为牵引力量，加快促进新质生产力发展。

First, lay the foundation of the scientific research chain and strengthen the layout of basic research. New quality productive forces take scientific and technological innovation as the leading force, but the results of scientific and technological innovation are the tail end of the scientific research chain; the edifice of scientific and technological undertakings is highly dependent on the foundation of basic research. Facing new opportunities in the technological revolution and China’s “bottleneck” difficulties in key areas, China needs to strengthen forward-looking, strategic, and systematic planning, continuously promote the construction of high-level basic research support platforms, form a strong backbone network for basic research, and provide a solid hardware foundation for the development of new quality productive forces. Second, leverage the advantages of the new nationwide system for mobilizing resources to enhance the efficiency of the innovation system. China has the institutional advantage of concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks. The new nationwide system for mobilizing resources can organically combine an “effective government” with an “efficient market,” guiding the government, market, and society to work together. At the same time, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a national innovation system oriented toward high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, strengthen support and guidance for high-tech innovation, and provide policy and financial support for high-tech innovation, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of the national innovation system and providing scientific and technological support for the development of new quality productive forces. Finally, improve the mechanism for transforming scientific and technological achievements and strengthen the deep integration of industry, academia, and research. Applied research is an important pathway for transforming high-level scientific and technological innovation into new quality productive forces. Special funds and service institutions can be established to provide financial support and intermediary services for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, strengthen cooperation between enterprises and universities and research institutions, promote resource sharing and complementary advantages among multiple parties, and use joint efforts to remove difficulties and obstacles on the path of transforming scientific and technological achievements, thereby improving the success rate and efficiency of such transformation.

首先，打好科研链条的地基，强化基础研究布局。新质生产力以科技创新为主导力量，但科技创新结果是科研链条的尾端，科技事业的大厦高度依赖于基础研究这一地基。面对科技革命的新机遇和中国在关键领域的“卡脖子”困境，我国需要强化前瞻性、战略性、系统性布局，不断推进基础研究高水平支撑平台建设，形成强大的基础研究骨干网络，为新质生产力发展提供坚实的硬件基础。其次，发挥新型举国体制优势，提升创新体系效能。我国拥有集中力量办大事的制度优势，新型举国体制能够使“有为政府”与“有效市场”有机结合，引导政府、市场和社会协同发力，同时，要加快建设面向高水平科技自立自强的国家创新体系，加强对高新技术创新的支持和引导，为高新技术创新提供政策、资金的支持，从而提升国家创新体系整体效能，为新质生产力发展提供科技支撑力量。最后，完善科技成果转化机制，加强产学研深度融合。应用研究是高水平科技创新转化为新质生产力的重要途径，可以设立专项基金、服务机构等为科技成果转化提供资金支持和中介服务，加强企业与高校、科研机构的合作，促进多方实现资源共享、优势互补，以多方合力清除科技成果转化之路上的困难和梗阻，提高科技成果转化的成功率和效率。

2. Taking advanced manufacturing as the main body to vigorously develop strategic emerging industries and future industries

2.以先进制造业为主体，大力发展战略性新兴产业和未来产业

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “The real economy is the foundation of a country’s economy, the fundamental source of wealth creation, and an important pillar of national strength,” and “Manufacturing is the foundation of the country and the basis of a strong nation; to grasp the real economy, one must grasp manufacturing well.” Conforming to the development trend of the times, developing advanced manufacturing is key to achieving national modernization and an important source of shaping international competitive advantages.

习近平总书记指出，“实体经济是一国经济的立身之本，是财富创造的根本源泉，是国家强盛的重要支柱”，“制造业是立国之本、强国之基，抓实体经济一定要抓好制造业”。顺应时代发展趋势，发展先进制造业是实现国家现代化的关键，也是塑造国际竞争优势的重要来源。

The transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing is one of the pathways for developing advanced manufacturing and an important means of promoting the development of new quality productive forces. China should strengthen support for industries such as high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy vehicles, and biomedicine, and accelerate the transformation of traditional manufacturing toward high-end, intelligent, and green development. In addition to the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing, it is necessary to establish and improve industry standards and technical standard systems for key products, and actively develop strategic emerging industries such as next-generation information technology, biotechnology, new energy, new materials, and high-end equipment, as well as future industries such as brain-like intelligence, quantum information, gene technology, future networks, and deep-sea and deep-space development. Furthermore, China needs to focus on strengthening and reinforcing the manufacturing industry chain. Based on the security and stability of the industrial chain and supply chain, and focusing on implementing the industrial foundation reengineering project, improving the industrial foundation support system, and strengthening the construction of the industrial technology standard system, China should accelerate key technology breakthroughs, promote industrial digitalization, and regulate the development of the platform economy to achieve deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and actively participate in the division of labor and cooperation in the global industrial chain to strengthen the ability to master and utilize the international supply chain.

传统制造业的转型升级是先进制造业发展的路径之一，也是推动新质生产力发展的重要手段。我国应加强对高端装备制造、新能源汽车、生物医药等产业的支持，加快推动传统制造业向高端化、智能化、绿色化转型。在传统制造业的转型升级以外，要建立健全行业标准和重要产品技术标准体系，积极发展新一代信息技术、生物技术、新能源、新材料、高端装备等战略性新兴产业和类脑智能、量子信息、基因技术、未来网络、深海空天开发等未来产业。另外，我国需要重点推进制造业补链强链。以产业链供应链的安全稳定为基础，以实施产业基础再造工程、健全产业基础支撑体系、加强产业技术标准体系建设为着力点，通过加快关键技术攻关、推进产业数字化、规范平台经济发展等路径实现数字经济与实体经济的深度融合，并积极参与全球产业链分工合作以加强对国际供应链的掌握和运用能力。

3. Taking institutional and mechanism reform and innovation as the link to vigorously unleash the potential of new quality productive forces development

3.以体制机制的改革创新为纽带，大力释放新质生产力发展的潜力

Scientific and technological innovation is the internal driving force for promoting the development of new quality productive forces, while institutional and mechanism innovation is the external driving force for promoting the development of new quality productive forces. As an advanced productive force, new quality productive forces inevitably require new institutional mechanisms that are compatible with them.

科技创新是促进新质生产力发展的内在动力，体制机制创新是促进新质生产力发展的外在推力。新质生产力作为先进生产力，必然要求与之适应的新的体制机制。

First, perfecting various property rights systems is the basic guarantee for promoting the development of new quality productive forces. It is necessary to continuously improve various property rights systems around scientific and technological innovation and industrial optimization and upgrading, while simultaneously cultivating a unified market for technology and data elements to effectively promote the transformation and application of technological achievements. Through the improvement of property rights systems and the technology market, a stable, fair, and transparent market environment is provided for the development of new quality productive forces. Second, reform of the scientific and technological innovation system is the key to promoting the development of new quality productive forces. Institutions and policies play an important value-driven and strategically guiding role in the development of new quality productive forces. It is necessary to continuously advance the reform of the scientific and technological innovation system, improve the scientific and technological innovation system, accelerate the filling of shortcomings in systemic capabilities, explore and optimize institutional and mechanism innovations in multiple aspects such as organizational management, decision-making command, and market environment, proactively adapt to the new trends of diverse innovation entities, varied activities, and multiple pathways, and continuously unleash the potential for the development of new quality productive forces. Finally, the evaluation system and incentive mechanism for scientific and technological innovation are the powerful driving forces for promoting the development of new quality productive forces. A scientific evaluation system for scientific and technological innovation can provide objective and accurate assessments. At the same time, it is necessary to establish and improve the mechanisms and systems for capital markets to support scientific and technological innovation and the development of emerging industries, using scientific and technological innovation incentive mechanisms to stimulate the initiative and creativity of scientific researchers, and promote the continuous emergence of scientific and technological innovation achievements. Beyond the domestic environment, continuously improving the mechanism for international scientific and technological exchange and cooperation is also an inherent requirement for promoting the development of new quality productive forces. By building science and technology parks, establishing special funds, and other means, we advance scientific and technological innovation cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, promote the internationalization of China's scientific and technological innovation, and simultaneously promote the globalization of scientific and technological innovation, injecting broader space and resources into the development of new quality productive forces.

首先，完善各类产权制度是推动新质生产力发展的基本保障。需要围绕科技创新和产业优化升级，不断完善各类产权制度，同时，培育统一的技术和数据要素市场，有效促进技术成果的转化和应用。通过产权制度和技术市场的完善，为新质生产力的发展提供稳定、公平、透明的市场环境。其次，科技创新体制改革是推动新质生产力发展的关键所在。制度、政策对新质生产力发展起到重要的价值驱动和战略牵引作用，要不断推进科技创新体制改革，完善科技创新体系，加快补齐体系化能力短板，探索优化组织管理、决策指挥、市场环境等多方面的体制机制创新，主动顺应创新主体多元、活动多样、路径多变的新趋势，不断释放新质生产力发展的潜力。最后，科技创新评价体系和激励机制是推动新质生产力发展的强劲动力。科学的科技创新评价体系能够进行客观、准确的评估，同时要建立健全资本市场支持科技创新和新兴产业发展的机制体制，以科技创新激励机制激发科研人员的积极性和创造力，推动科技创新成果不断涌现。在国内环境之外，不断完善国际科技交流合作机制也是推动新质生产力发展的应有之义，通过建设科技园区、设立专项基金等方式推进“一带一路”科技创新合作，促进我国科技创新的国际化发展，同时也推动科技创新的全球化发展，为新质生产力的发展注入更加广阔的空间和资源。

4. Based on the accumulation of high-quality human resources, continuously promote high-quality development with complex labor

4.以高质量人力资源积累为基础，不断以复杂劳动推动高质量发展

Developing new quality productive forces requires not only playing the key role of scientific and technological innovation but also, more importantly, leveraging the supporting role of high-quality talent. Promoting the development of new quality productive forces through the accumulation of high-quality human resources and the construction of a talent team needs to proceed from the following three aspects.

发展新质生产力，既需要发挥科技创新的关键作用，更需要发挥高质量人才的支撑作用。以高质量人力资源积累和人才队伍建设推进新质生产力发展需要从以下三个方面着手。

First, it is necessary to reform and improve the education system at all levels, give full play to the leading role of higher education, and vigorously cultivate high-quality new-type laborers. The capacity and level of scientific and technological innovation are directly linked to the quality and skill level of human resources. It is necessary to accelerate the construction of first-class universities and discipline clusters, cultivate top-notch and innovative talents in the fields of "high-end, precision, cutting-edge, and scarce" [19]19 "High-end, precision, cutting-edge, and scarce" (高精尖缺) is a Chinese policy term referring to strategic fields requiring top-tier, specialized, and rare talent, often linked to national science and technology priorities., and provide a high-quality "talent pool" for the development of new quality productive forces. Moreover, it is necessary to establish a scientific and effective mechanism for selecting and appointing personnel, give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of human resources, improve the talent evaluation system and assessment mechanism, and optimize the talent incentive and compensation mechanism, so that "each person is used to their best ability and each talent is fully utilized." Second, it is necessary to promote high-quality innovation with complex labor. Complex labor requires laborers to possess certain knowledge, skills, and innovative capabilities, and to rationally use knowledge, technology, and management to promote high-quality innovation. On the path to promoting high-quality innovation with complex labor, it is necessary to coordinate the support and guarantees from the government, enterprises, and all sectors of society, strengthen the training and education of laborers, enhance their professional competence, skill levels, and innovative capabilities, continuously optimize resource allocation, improve market mechanisms and the social security system, provide the necessary material foundation, working environment, and living conditions for laborers engaged in complex labor, and promote the transformation of the labor achievements of complex labor, thereby injecting strong impetus into high-quality innovation. Third, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of world-class talent centers and innovation hubs. A high-quality, specialized, and globalized talent team is a necessary condition for advancing high-tech innovation, promoting the development of new quality productive forces, and driving high-quality economic development. We must both take steps to "go global," actively expanding international perspectives and participating in international exchanges and cooperation by attending international science and technology conferences, visiting research institutions, and cooperating on research projects, and, even more importantly, open our doors wide to "bring in" talent, attracting more outstanding scientific and technological talents by offering generous treatment, a good working environment, and other means to provide strong support for China's scientific and technological innovation.

一是要改革和完善各层次教育体系，发挥高等教育的龙头作用，大力培养高素质的新型劳动者。科技创新的能力和水平与人力资源的素质和技能水平直接挂钩，需要加快推进一流高校和学科群的建设，围绕“高精尖缺”领域培养拔尖人才、创新人才，为新质生产力发展提供高质量的“人才库”。并且，要建立科学有效的选人用人机制，充分发挥市场在人力资源配置中的决定性作用，完善人才评价体系和考核机制，优化人才激励和报酬机制，使“人尽其才，才尽其用”。二是要以复杂劳动推动高质量创新。复杂劳动需要劳动者具备一定的知识、技能和创新能力，合理运用知识、技术、管理推动高质量创新。在以复杂劳动推动高质量创新的实现路径上，需要协同政府、企业和社会各界的支持和保障，加强对劳动者的培训和教育，提升劳动者的专业素养、技能水平、创新能力，不断优化资源配置、完善市场机制和社会保障制度，为从事复杂劳动的劳动者提供必要的物质基础、工作环境和生活条件，促进复杂劳动的劳动成果转化，从而为高质量创新注入强大动力。三是加快建设世界重要人才中心和创新高地。高素质、专业化、全球化的人才队伍是推进高新科技创新、推动新质生产力发展、推动经济高质量发展的必要条件。我们既要迈开脚步“走出去”，通过参加国际科技会议、访问科研机构、合作科研项目等方式积极拓展国际视野，参与国际交流合作，更要敞开大门“引进来”，通过提供优厚待遇、良好的工作环境等方式吸引更多优秀科技人才为我国科技创新提供强有力的支持。

(Author's bio: Han Wenlong, Vice Dean, Professor, and Doctoral Supervisor of the School of Economics, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics)

（作者简介：韩文龙，西南财经大学经济学院副院长、教授、博士生导师）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心