China News Service, Beijing, October 9 (Reporter Wang Enbo) Enterprises are becoming the innovative protagonists of China's development of new productive forces. The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on the Development of New Productivity" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") released on the 9th clearly stated that enterprises should strengthen their dominant position in scientific and technological innovation.
Why business? In response to a reporter's question, the relevant person in charge of China's National Development and Reform Commission said that in the future, the rise of industries, the development of emerging industries, and the upgrading and transformation of traditional industries will all play a decisive role in the market's allocation of innovative resources, and they will all be driven by enterprises' step-by-step breakthroughs.
Enterprises are closest to the market and can most directly perceive changes in demand, which is a key link between technological innovation and industrial development. Strengthening the dominant position of enterprises in innovation is precisely to allow more market demands to enter the innovation chain and to accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into real productivity.
The data confirms the importance of enterprises in innovation. According to statistics, enterprises account for more than 75% of China's total social investment for many years. As of the end of 2025, the total number of high-tech enterprises nationwide will reach 504,000, an increase of more than 80% from 2020. In 2026, the total R&D expenses actually reported by the top 500 private enterprises in China will reach 1.26 trillion yuan.
Lin Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Innovation-Driven Development Center of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that this team of enterprises with wide coverage and clear hierarchy has become the main force carrying out the construction of national innovation platforms and breaking through key common technologies.
At present, enterprises have an important window for innovation and development. On the one hand, China is nurturing and strengthening emerging industries and future industries. A number of new technologies, new industries, and new scenarios are being formed at an accelerated pace, and cutting-edge technologies are expected to usher in concentrated breakthroughs. On the other hand, official policy empowerment is accelerating and effective, and multiple policy tools such as fiscal and taxation support, science and technology innovation finance, scenario opening, innovation fault tolerance, and intellectual property protection are coordinated and coordinated.
Strengthen the supply of inclusive incentive policies, establish an enterprise R&D reserve system, and strengthen the leading role of enterprises in scientific and technological investment; upgrade enterprise R&D projects that meet national strategic needs to national projects according to procedures, encourage enterprises to take the lead in national scientific and technological tasks, and support capable private enterprises to take the lead in undertaking major national technological research tasks; establish a mechanism for user assessment and evaluation results, and strengthen the main position of enterprises in the transformation of achievements...
From scientific and technological innovation decision-making, scientific and technological investment, scientific research organization to the transformation and application of results, this "Opinion" makes a series of arrangements to promote enterprises to deeply participate in the entire innovation process. Observations believe that this means that various innovative resource elements will further gather in enterprises.
Of course, just because enterprises are the protagonists of innovation does not mean that the government can be absent. The development of new productive forces requires enterprises to continuously innovate according to market demand, and it also requires the government's advanced planning guidance and scientific policy support.
In recent years, China has taken advantage of its new nationwide system and accumulated a lot of experience in systematic research. From the perspective of a promising government, the "Opinions" also proposes to "coordinate the construction of national strategic scientific and technological forces" and make arrangements for building strong national strategic scientific and technological forces from the aspects of institutional reform, major scientific and technological projects, major innovation platforms, etc. Its purpose is to enhance the ability to systematically tackle key problems in scientific and technological innovation.
What the government does not do is equally important. The development of new productive forces cannot be a reason for some places to attract investment and blindly "follow the trend" of projects, nor can it turn into random "burning money" and duplication of construction. In the face of new industries and new tracks, local governments can create conditions and provide services, but they cannot make choices for the market just because they are chasing trends.
The more standardized government behavior is, the more effective the market will be. A market environment that is fair, transparent, and expected to be stable is itself the most powerful support for corporate innovation. In such an environment, enterprises decide what and how to invest based on real needs, and screen out viable technologies and products in the competition. As a result, the innovation potential of enterprises is expected to be systematically activated.
