The 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) Annual Conference has once again drawn global attention to China's innovation drive, with a focus this year on closer integration between technological and industrial innovation.
The latest episode of the China Economic Roundtable, an all-media talk show hosted by Xinhua News Agency, delved into this key theme. Guests from government, industry and academia examined how this alignment could inject fresh momentum into the world's second-largest economy in the coming years.
INTEGRATION TAKES CENTER STAGE
China's newly released outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) places the integration of technological and industrial innovation high on the agenda. Since the blueprint's release, the ZGC Forum has emerged as one of the key platforms for gathering global insights on advancing this goal.
"At the forum, industry leaders from around the world shared their views on cutting-edge technologies and emerging industrial frontiers," said Zhai Tianrui, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Administrative Commission of Zhongguancun Science Park, at the roundtable. Zhai said the ZGC Forum itself reflected the spirit of integration by bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs and policymakers to explore practical solutions.
Exhibits at the forum offered a closer look at how breakthroughs can be translated into productivity. A range of emerging technologies -- from 3D monitors to robots with improved sensing abilities -- were showcased, demonstrating pathways from research to commercial applications.
For Liu Hui, head of the Consumption and Industry Development Research Institute of JD.com, the key is to match technologies with application needs. Liu said efforts should focus on better aligning innovation with real-world scenarios to help industries reduce costs, improve efficiency and support the development of future industries.
Guests also cited momentum in frontier fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum information and biomanufacturing, highlighting them as important drivers for fostering new quality productive forces.
Zhang Xiaoyan, deputy director of China Center for Information Industry Development, said that as a new wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation gains speed around the world, the pace of turning innovation into industrial applications is also accelerating. Against this backdrop, Zhang added, China has secured early advantages in some fields, creating favorable conditions to seize future opportunities.
TURNING BLUEPRINT INTO ACTION
Innovation has long been central to China's development agenda. After years of sustained efforts, the country has become a major global hub for innovation. The World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index 2025 ranked China among the global top 10 for the first time.
China has also established the world's largest manufacturing system by scale, with the most comprehensive industrial categories. With strengths in both technological innovation and industrial capacity, guests said, deeper integration between the two could create a multiplier effect.
With such integration listed as a key task in the country's development blueprint for the next five years, experts stressed that the priority now is to translate the plan into concrete action, with local practices already providing practical examples.
Beijing has been among the front-runners in advancing this integration. Over the years, the capital has encouraged enterprises to take the lead in building innovation centers, strengthened cooperation mechanisms linking incubators, universities and industrial parks, and guided financial capital toward technology development.
Efforts are also being advanced through national innovation hubs. According to this year's government work report, China plans to develop Beijing (the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region), Shanghai (the Yangtze River Delta) and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into international centers for sci-tech innovation and turn them into world-class innovation engines.
Liu Dongmei, Party secretary of the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, said that to further strengthen their role, the innovation hubs should fully leverage their ability to attract innovation and promote the sharing of research and development resources. Liu added that sci-tech innovation clusters should be built around key industries.
Looking ahead, guests expressed confidence that China's foundation for sci-tech innovation will become more solid. "China's research and development will shift from being high-end and impressive to more practical and accessible," Zhang said, adding that small and medium-sized enterprises will move from serving mainly as suppliers for large firms to becoming collaborative innovation partners.
"China will also transition from being a testing ground for innovative applications to becoming a global source of innovation," Zhang said.
