Politburo’s First Collective Study Session of the New Year Focuses on Planning for Future Industries

On January 30, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held its 24th collective study session. The first session of the new year focused on forward-looking planning and the development of future industries.

Future industries are characterized by their forward-looking, strategic, and disruptive nature. Historically, each wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation has given rise to a batch of future industries.

Currently, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating, with future industries like quantum technology and artificial intelligence in the ascendant. How should future industries be viewed strategically? During the collective study session, the importance was emphasized on three levels:

“Cultivating and developing future industries is of great significance for seizing the commanding heights of science, technology, and industry to secure the initiative in development, for developing new quality productive forces and building a modern industrial system, and for improving people’s quality of life, promoting well-rounded human development, and comprehensive social progress.”

As early as 2014, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed “exploring the direction for the development of future industries.” In recent years, the importance of making forward-looking plans for future industries has been emphasized on various occasions.

In this collective study session, it was stressed that we must stand at the strategic height of advancing the great cause of national rejuvenation, base our efforts on objective conditions, leverage comparative advantages, adhere to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability and fostering development in a step-by-step manner, to continuously achieve new breakthroughs in the development of China’s future industries.

So, how should we plan and lay out future industries? Special attention was paid to several key relationships.

— Traditional and Emerging

Currently, continuous technological innovations have created many new avenues for development across regions. However, developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions requires a balanced approach to the structural relationship between traditional and emerging industries.

During the 2023 National Two Sessions, when hearing about the vigorous development of emerging industries, a caution was issued: “The worry is a rush of activity—starting with a swarm and ending with a scatter.”

It has been clearly pointed out that “traditional industries cannot simply be labeled as backward; there is also new quality productive forces and high technology within traditional industries.”

In this collective study session on future industries, the emphasis was again on acting according to local conditions and developing in a differentiated manner, stating, “We must strengthen industrial synergy to ensure future industries, emerging industries, and traditional industries complement each other.”

— Science & Technology and Industry

Technological innovation and industrial innovation are the fundamental paths for developing new quality productive forces.

In planning future industries, how can the innovation chain and the industrial chain be seamlessly connected? It was emphasized to adhere to the principle of “industry posing the questions, science and technology providing the answers,” and to “strengthen the strategic, forward-looking, and systematic layout of basic research, and accelerate the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements.”

During the 2024 National Two Sessions, an analogy was made: “In the past, research and production were like ‘two separate layers of skin.’ Now, the rate of transforming research results is much higher than before, especially when enterprises directly develop and transform their own results, and when institutions and enterprises form a community. This trend and direction are correct. We must spur it on and further implement policies that incentivize and promote it.”

In this collective study session, special emphasis was placed on giving full play to the role of enterprises as the main actors, “driving various innovation resources to converge on enterprises.”

— Enabling Vitality and Ensuring Good Governance

In planning future industries, we must both seize opportunities and dare to forge ahead, while also upholding bottom-line thinking and preparing for potential challenges.

Discussing the role of the government in cultivating future industries, the importance of both service and governance was highlighted.

“We must improve fiscal, tax, and other policies, vigorously develop technology finance, comprehensively do a good job in cultivating, attracting, and utilizing talent, and foster a strong atmosphere of encouraging innovation throughout society.” “We must balance development and security, explore scientific and effective regulatory methods, prevent related risks, and ensure both ‘enabling vitality’ and ‘ensuring good governance.’

Political Bureau of the Central Committee

The Political Bureau of the Central Committee, often abbreviated as the Politburo, is the highest decision-making body within the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. It has its origins in the early organizational structures of the Party and plays a central role in formulating and guiding national policy. Its history is integral to the governance and political development of modern China.

Central Economic Work Conference

The Central Economic Work Conference is an annual high-level meeting convened by China’s leadership to set the nation’s key economic policy priorities and direction for the coming year. Historically, it has been the primary forum for shaping China’s major economic strategies, including pivotal reforms and development plans since the country’s reform and opening-up period. Its decisions directly influence the government’s economic agenda and are closely watched by domestic and international observers.

National Two Sessions (2023)

The “National Two Sessions” refers to the annual meetings of China’s top legislative and political advisory bodies—the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The 2023 sessions, held in March in Beijing, reviewed and approved key national policies, including economic targets and leadership appointments, continuing a longstanding tradition of shaping China’s annual development agenda.

National Two Sessions (2024)

The “National Two Sessions” refers to the annual meetings of China’s top legislative and political advisory bodies, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The 2024 sessions, held in March in Beijing, reviewed government work reports, discussed national development plans, and passed key legislation, continuing a longstanding tradition of political life in China that dates back to the establishment of these institutions in the mid-20th century.