MIIT Sets the Agenda! New Moves Ahead for These Future Industry Sectors

A national conference on industry and information technology was recently held in Beijing. In outlining tasks for 2025, the meeting called for cultivating and expanding emerging and future industries. Key measures include launching initiatives to foster emerging industries and generate new growth drivers, and promoting large-scale demonstration applications of new technologies, products, and scenarios in manufacturing. Efforts will be made to advance the development of intelligent connected vehicles and expand the scale of BeiDou system applications. Low-altitude information infrastructure will be developed in light of local conditions. The "揭榜挂帅" (open competition mechanism to select the best candidates for key projects) will be implemented for innovation tasks in future industries, alongside the formulation of policies to drive innovation in fields such as biomanufacturing, the quantum industry, embodied AI, and atomic-level manufacturing.

In 2024, the industrial economy maintained overall stability with steady progress; high-quality development advanced solidly, and new strides were made in new-type industrialization. The value-added output of industrial enterprises above designated size is projected to grow by approximately 5.7% year-on-year for the full year.

Meanwhile, new breakthroughs were achieved in industrial technological innovation, industrial structures were further optimized and upgraded, and the high-quality development of the information and communications sector advanced steadily. For the full year, the total volume of telecommunications services and revenue from the software and information technology services industry are both expected to grow by around 11% year-on-year.

Looking ahead to 2025, the meeting outlined 12 key areas of work, including striving for steady growth in the industrial economy, promoting the integrated development of technological and industrial innovation, upgrading traditional industries, cultivating emerging and future industries, and driving the high-quality development of the information and communications sector.

Regarding the goal of ensuring steady industrial economic growth, a new round of growth-stabilization plans for ten key industries will be implemented. The "Three-Item" initiative (improving variety, quality, and branding) for consumer goods will be deepened, with the aim of creating a tiered lineup of renowned Chinese consumer brands. Plans will be formulated to establish a mechanism for maintaining a reasonable share of manufacturing in the economy, and efforts to implement support policies for large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-ins will be intensified. A project to cultivate manufacturing clusters will also be launched.

To promote the integrated development of technological and industrial innovation, a tiered cultivation system will be established for enterprises—ranging from high-tech enterprises and innovative SMEs to "gazelle" and "unicorn" companies. Initiatives will be launched to cultivate "new tracks" (emerging sectors) in national high-tech zones, and a number of provincial-level development zones will be upgraded to national high-tech zones.

Regarding the deep integration of information technology and industrialization, mechanisms for the circulation and trading of industrial data will be explored and established. We will pursue a coordinated approach across "points, lines, and areas," accelerating the full digital transformation of industrial enterprises above designated size and specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative (SRDI) SMEs. We will formulate digital transformation guidelines tailored to specific key industries—adopting a "one policy per industry" approach—and build 200 high-standard digital industrial parks over the next three years. A number of manufacturing digital transformation promotion centers will be established, distributed across different industries and regions. We will implement the "AI + Manufacturing" initiative, strengthening the R&D and application of both general-purpose and industry-specific large-scale models.

To drive high-quality development in the information and communications sector, we will refine policies supporting "dual-gigabit" network development, pilot the deployment of 10-gigabit optical networks, and aim for a cumulative total of over 4.5 million 5G base stations. We will optimize the layout of computing power centers and accelerate network upgrades to interconnect computing resources into a unified network. We will also advance the evolution of 5G and drive technological innovation in 6G.

To further promote the SRDI development of SMEs, we will revise classification standards, implement evaluation systems for SRDI development, launch a new round of central government support for the high-quality growth of SRDI SMEs, and advance city-level pilot programs for SME digital transformation. Additionally, we will cultivate another 100 national-level SME industrial clusters with distinctive features.