China in 2024: Constructing a Nation Focused on Innovation
With double-digit growth projected for the production of new energy vehicles, integrated circuits, and service robots in 2024, China's innovation economy continues to gain momentum.
TroibNews 
**Editor's note:** CN presents “China in 2024,” a special series that thoroughly examines the nation's advancements in enhancing livelihoods, promoting high-quality development, deepening reform, and further opening up, as well as its achievements in sci-tech innovation, cultural development, ecological conservation, and diplomatic relations.
In 2024, China's innovation economy gained significant momentum, marked by double-digit growth in the production of new energy vehicles, integrated circuits, and service robots. As Chinese President Xi Jinping noted during his visit to Hefei City in Anhui Province in October, “science and technology should be at the forefront in advancing Chinese modernization.”
A series of major technological advancements occurred, including the introduction of the Yongzhou tunnel boring machine, the linking of the grid of the world's first offshore wind farm with ultra-large, single-unit capacity, and the delivery of the fifth-generation large liquefied natural gas carrier, Lv Neng Ying.
**Significant advances in technological innovation**
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization's 2024 index, China’s global innovation ranking moved up to 11th place, an improvement from the previous year, reinforcing its position as one of the fastest-growing economies in terms of innovation over the last decade.
China now boasts 26 of the world’s top 100 science and technology innovation clusters, an increase from last year’s 24, and it ranks first globally for the second consecutive year.
**New quality productive forces**
Regions nationwide are actively promoting the development of new quality productive forces. In Beijing, plans are underway to establish an international science and technology innovation center, with advancements in emerging fields such as 6G and quantum technologies. Meanwhile, Liaoning is focusing on strengthening 12 key industrial clusters, particularly in aerospace equipment manufacturing.
During the first half of 2024, investment in high-tech industries rose by 10.6 percent year on year, exceeding the overall investment growth by 6.7 percentage points. New sectors, including next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence, new energy, new materials, and high-end equipment, are emerging as vital growth contributors.
**Enterprises leading innovation**
Recent official reports indicate that centrally administered enterprises have intensified their efforts to address core technologies. They have launched 11 special action plans and developed a comprehensive framework for creating 201 original technology hubs across eight major categories and 60 fields.
These enterprises have also played a pivotal role in establishing a national laboratory system, reorganizing several national key laboratories, and contributing to the formation of innovation consortia. This initiative has fostered collaboration among over 500 universities, research institutes, local state-owned enterprises, and private companies to collectively advance more than 1,000 cooperative projects.
**'Patient capital' as strong support**
“Patient capital,” which favors long-term returns, aligns well with the technological innovation process due to its high barriers, prolonged cycles, and significant risks.
Starting from the proposal of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in April to expand patient capital, to the explicit focus on its development during the 20th CPC Central Committee's Third Plenary Session in July, the importance of patient capital in bolstering China's technological innovation is becoming more evident.
Highlighted as a vital aspect of patient capital, state-owned capital investments have seen an increase this year, fostering technological advances in advanced manufacturing, energy, and electronic information, and yielding positive results.
Anna Muller for TROIB News
In 2024, China's innovation economy gained significant momentum, marked by double-digit growth in the production of new energy vehicles, integrated circuits, and service robots. As Chinese President Xi Jinping noted during his visit to Hefei City in Anhui Province in October, “science and technology should be at the forefront in advancing Chinese modernization.”
A series of major technological advancements occurred, including the introduction of the Yongzhou tunnel boring machine, the linking of the grid of the world's first offshore wind farm with ultra-large, single-unit capacity, and the delivery of the fifth-generation large liquefied natural gas carrier, Lv Neng Ying.
**Significant advances in technological innovation**
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization's 2024 index, China’s global innovation ranking moved up to 11th place, an improvement from the previous year, reinforcing its position as one of the fastest-growing economies in terms of innovation over the last decade.
China now boasts 26 of the world’s top 100 science and technology innovation clusters, an increase from last year’s 24, and it ranks first globally for the second consecutive year.
**New quality productive forces**
Regions nationwide are actively promoting the development of new quality productive forces. In Beijing, plans are underway to establish an international science and technology innovation center, with advancements in emerging fields such as 6G and quantum technologies. Meanwhile, Liaoning is focusing on strengthening 12 key industrial clusters, particularly in aerospace equipment manufacturing.
During the first half of 2024, investment in high-tech industries rose by 10.6 percent year on year, exceeding the overall investment growth by 6.7 percentage points. New sectors, including next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence, new energy, new materials, and high-end equipment, are emerging as vital growth contributors.
**Enterprises leading innovation**
Recent official reports indicate that centrally administered enterprises have intensified their efforts to address core technologies. They have launched 11 special action plans and developed a comprehensive framework for creating 201 original technology hubs across eight major categories and 60 fields.
These enterprises have also played a pivotal role in establishing a national laboratory system, reorganizing several national key laboratories, and contributing to the formation of innovation consortia. This initiative has fostered collaboration among over 500 universities, research institutes, local state-owned enterprises, and private companies to collectively advance more than 1,000 cooperative projects.
**'Patient capital' as strong support**
“Patient capital,” which favors long-term returns, aligns well with the technological innovation process due to its high barriers, prolonged cycles, and significant risks.
Starting from the proposal of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in April to expand patient capital, to the explicit focus on its development during the 20th CPC Central Committee's Third Plenary Session in July, the importance of patient capital in bolstering China's technological innovation is becoming more evident.
Highlighted as a vital aspect of patient capital, state-owned capital investments have seen an increase this year, fostering technological advances in advanced manufacturing, energy, and electronic information, and yielding positive results.
Anna Muller for TROIB News
