The National Advanced Manufacturing Conference convened in Beijing on September 16-17, marking a significant milestone as it occurs during the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. This high-profile gathering underscores both the critical role that advanced manufacturing plays in China's broader modernization efforts and signals a clear commitment to further strengthening this vital sector.
According to the "15th Five-Year Plan" outline, maintaining a reasonable share of manufacturing in the national economy is a priority, with the goal of establishing a modern industrial system led by advanced manufacturing. China's manufacturing sector currently stands at a pivotal juncture, transitioning from large-scale to high-strength capabilities, with its value-added output now accounting for nearly 30% of the global total. From January to August, value-added output from industrial enterprises above a designated size grew by 5.3% year-on-year, with emerging sectors such as high-tech manufacturing and digital product manufacturing contributing over half of this growth. However, significant challenges remain, including a mismatch between resource supply and industrial demand, uneven regional development, and insufficient coordination across industrial organizations.
Cross-sector integration serves as a powerful engine for advancing the manufacturing industry. Consider an AI-powered pair of glasses that integrates artificial intelligence, sensors, and wireless communication to offer translation, navigation, and voice recognition services, or the Luogang Park in Hefei, which brings together multiple application scenarios such as tourism and high-speed inspection to demonstrate the practical value of emerging technologies. In recent years, breakthroughs across information technology, new materials, and biotechnology have converged, giving rise to highly integrated products and comprehensive innovation scenarios. In contrast to traditional factor-driven growth models, cross-sector integration enables the reuse of technologies, the consolidation of resources, and the reshaping of value chains, linking manufacturing and digital capabilities with urban applications and public needs to generate fresh momentum through new business models.
This integration offers a dual pathway for progress. On one hand, it compels established industries to phase out outdated capacity, facilitating a shift toward smarter and greener operations while invigorating existing sectors. On the other, it dismantles barriers to industrial evolution, continuously fostering new technologies, models, and forms of business, thereby creating novel arenas for future industries and establishing a virtuous cycle of industrial upgrading.
Several regions are already charting distinctive paths to escape conventional manufacturing paradigms. Hubei has adopted a holistic approach, explicitly promoting deep integration between advanced manufacturing and modern services, while advancing the interconnected growth of the real economy with the digital economy and coordinating development across primary, secondary, and tertiary industries. Guangdong, in turn, has articulated a framework encompassing "advanced manufacturing plus services," translating goals of high-end, intelligent, green, and integrated development into actionable industrial strategies.
Looking ahead, while breakthroughs in individual technologies are important, adopting a mindset centered on integration will be essential for further strengthening the advanced manufacturing sector. Enterprises must take the initiative to align with digital technologies, urban scenarios, consumer demands, and global markets, using cross-sector innovation to redefine products, business models, and operational approaches. At the industry level, efforts should focus on eliminating barriers across sectors, regions, and supply-demand boundaries, cultivating an ecosystem that integrates technological empowerment, scenario implementation, industrial clustering, and comprehensive support services. Additionally, sustained exploration in frontier domains, such as coupling manufacturing with artificial intelligence and biotechnology, will be crucial for cultivating future growth points.
Advanced manufacturing has emerged as a key arena in international competition. Advancing this sector is fundamentally about deepening the fusion of technological and industrial innovation, while fostering new quality productive forces. To this end, it is imperative to align with the trends of the latest technological and industrial revolution, stay committed to intelligent, green, and integrated growth, and continue breaking new ground in cross-sector applications and business model integration. By fully unleashing market-driven innovation and facilitating a qualitative leap in China's manufacturing capabilities, the nation can secure a strategic advantage in the evolving global industrial landscape.