President Xi Jinping recently made important instructions on the development of advanced manufacturing, fully affirming the remarkable achievements made in the development of China's advanced manufacturing since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and profoundly elaborating on the great significance, direction, path, and key tasks of developing advanced manufacturing on the new journey. From September 16 to 17, the important instructions of President Xi Jinping were conveyed at the National Advanced Manufacturing Conference held in Beijing. Premier Li Qiang specifically mentioned advanced manufacturing clusters at the conference, requesting the cultivation and strengthening of advanced manufacturing clusters based on local conditions, and promoting quality improvement and upgrading by classification and hierarchical levels.
Advanced manufacturing clusters represent an advanced form of deepened industrial division of labor and agglomerated development. Possessing a group of highly competitive advanced manufacturing clusters is a key feature of a modernized industrial system and an important symbol of a manufacturing powerhouse. Through four rounds of selection, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has cumulatively cultivated and formed 80 national-level clusters, initially establishing an advanced manufacturing cluster system characterized by distinct features, competitive development, and echelon progression. Data from the MIIT shows that the 80 national-level clusters have gathered over 1,700 various innovation platforms and nearly 3,000 public service platforms, taking the lead in formulating more than 10,000 international and national standards, laying a solid foundation for advancing new industrialization and achieving the goal of building a manufacturing powerhouse.
Complementary Advantages and Showcasing Unique Strengths
By establishing cooperative networks for innovation, talent, finance, land, and various service institutions, advanced manufacturing clusters can smooth the channels for the coupling and development of various resource elements and industries, promoting the optimal allocation of production factors among regions.
It is understood that during the cluster construction process, various regions have gradually clarified their respective division of labor and positioning, which plays a strong guiding role in optimizing regional resource allocation, promoting industrial cooperation among regions, and advancing coordinated regional development. Cluster-based development has become an important approach for local areas to accelerate manufacturing development and promote the construction of a modernized industrial system.
Shandong Province has cumulatively cultivated 6 national-level clusters and 33 provincial-level clusters, with the output value of clusters accounting for over 50% of the province's industrial enterprises above designated size. Li Weidong, Director of the Planning and Technical Transformation Division of the Shandong Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, introduced that Shandong regards cultivating and strengthening advanced manufacturing clusters based on local conditions as an important approach to building a modernized industrial system. By strengthening cluster carriers, the province guides key industries to improve quality and efficiency and optimize layout. Regarding the future development focus of cluster work, Li Weidong stated that Shandong Province will focus on elevating the development level of clusters, making efforts in key tasks such as deep industrial synergy, digital and intelligent transformation empowerment, cultivation of high-quality enterprises, and regional cooperation and exchange. The province will continuously optimize the cluster-based development layout within the province, explore cluster cooperation with regions such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Rim, and the Yellow River Basin, strive to promote the leap of provincial clusters to the national level, and actively seek breakthroughs in the cultivation of world-class clusters.
Led by 4 national advanced manufacturing clusters, Liaoning Province has systematically planned the "2211" industrial system, namely 22 industrial clusters, over 100 key industrial chains, and more than 1,000 key enterprises, serving as the overall blueprint for industrial development and the general traction for cluster cultivation in Liaoning Province during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Zhou Ao, Director of the Manufacturing Powerhouse Construction Promotion Division of the Liaoning Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, stated that Liaoning will adhere to key breakthroughs and consolidate the key support for cluster construction. First, accelerate the empowerment of intelligent transformation and digital transition, launch a public service platform for intelligent transformation and digital transition, and implement full-coverage free diagnosis for industrial enterprises above designated size. Second, promote the integration and transformation of science and industry, taking pilot-scale test platforms as the starting point, simultaneously building manufacturing innovation centers and enterprise technology centers, and constructing a transformation system of "technological innovation - pilot-scale transformation - industrial application". Third, build strong industry-education integration carriers, set up new industrialization institutes by region and industry to empower industrial development, further weave a dense industrial service network, and optimize the business environment with a high-quality industrial ecosystem.
Jiangxi Province currently takes the lead in building 2 and cooperates in building 1 national advanced manufacturing cluster. Taking cluster capacity enhancement and upgrading as the starting point, it has systematically constructed the "Six Ones" standardized and systematic construction mechanism, cultivating and strengthening the cluster cultivation system with advanced manufacturing clusters as the backbone in a layered, classified, and localized manner. Dong Wenzhu, Director of the Industrial Park Division of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, introduced that Jiangxi is unswervingly committed to making advanced manufacturing bigger and stronger. With the direction of intelligentization, green development, and integration, the province is advancing the capacity enhancement and upgrading of industrial clusters in depth, concentrating resources for comprehensive breakthroughs, building a group of advanced manufacturing clusters with strong comprehensive strength and competitiveness, and accelerating the creation of a national advanced manufacturing characteristic advantage bearing area. Regarding the characteristic path, Dong Wenzhu introduced that on the one hand, the focus should be on key areas such as strengthening and supplementing the industrial chain, improving the quality and transformation of clusters, and platform construction, to accelerate the construction and improvement of the "1+N" policy system for industrial cluster cultivation, evaluation, and management. On the other hand, it is necessary to promote the transformation of the "Six Ones" mechanism from "tangible coverage" to "effective operation", continuously carry out brand activities such as "Cluster Expert Tour" and "Cluster Dialogue", comprehensively strengthen the construction of cluster promotion organizations, and continuously cultivate a more cohesive and attractive cluster ecosystem.
Innovative Development, Quality Improvement and Upgrading
Advanced manufacturing clusters have become an important carrier and approach for promoting manufacturing development. By promoting the vertical extension of the industrial chain and the horizontal expansion across industries and fields, they continuously spawn and develop new technologies, new industries, and new business forms, forming a group of new growth engines and accelerating the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing. Promoting the quality improvement and efficiency enhancement of advanced manufacturing clusters has become an important task for China to advance new industrialization and build a manufacturing powerhouse.
Traditional industries are the fundamental base of manufacturing. Promoting their renewal and upgrading is related not only to the consolidation and strengthening of the foundation of the real economy but also to the smooth and continuous transition between old and new growth drivers. Qi Dongming, Deputy Director of the Modern Textile Technology Innovation Center of Zhejiang Province, believes that renewal and upgrading are not mere patchwork, but an overall reshaping of the development logic, shifting from "scale leadership" to "value leadership" and "innovation leadership".
As the development promotion organization for the Hangzhou Bay Modern Textile and Apparel Cluster, the center continuously promotes the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, forming a closed-loop innovation model of "enterprises proposing questions, government assisting, platforms answering, workshops verifying, and market evaluating". It has overcome key common technologies such as green and intelligent manufacturing in the polyester fiber industrial chain. It has also explored the coordinated development path of education, technology, and talent, achieving the integrated promotion of talent cultivation and industrial upgrading through "discipline-based talent aggregation, platform-based problem solving, and practical talent nurturing". Regarding the future transformation direction of the cluster, Qi Dongming proposed that on the one hand, it should impact the top of the consumer value chain through digital and intelligent design, environmental protection and health, and brand cultivation, shifting from making products to selling designs, setting standards, and defining scenarios. On the other hand, it should extend to scenarios such as new energy and healthcare through technological innovation, achieving high-end autonomy and technological leadership.
The upgrading and development of clusters require not only improving the technological and product levels of enterprises themselves but also enhancing the collaboration efficiency of the industrial chain and strengthening key technological research and upstream and downstream supporting. Shi Xinchun, Secretary-General of the Jiangsu Provincial Renewable Energy Industry Association, said that as the development promotion organization for the Nanjing New Power (Smart Grid) Equipment Cluster, the association has gradually formed a working method of "researching to understand needs, organizing docking by classification, and tracking and feedback progress". Talking about the future key directions of the association's services to the cluster, Shi Xinchun stated that the association will combine national, provincial, and municipal industrial policies and the development direction of the Nanjing Power Equipment Cluster during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, focusing on strengthening the organizational services for joint R&D, testing and verification, and demonstration applications, and promoting deep cooperation between leading enterprises and supporting enterprises. At the same time, it will improve services such as market development, AI empowerment, and brand promotion, strengthen industry self-discipline, and enhance the overall influence and market reputation of the cluster.
Building World-Class Advanced Manufacturing Clusters
Standing at the critical node of the beginning of the "15th Five-Year Plan", the cultivation of advanced manufacturing clusters needs to closely follow the strategic requirements of building a modernized industrial system and consolidating and strengthening the foundation of the real economy. China's advanced manufacturing clusters have entered a critical stage of shifting from planning and layout to quality and efficiency improvement, and leaping from the national level to the world-class level. It is necessary to further strengthen top-level design, reinforce classified policies, and promote the further enhancement of cluster competitiveness.
Advanced manufacturing clusters organically connect a number of interrelated and closely related upstream, midstream, and downstream advanced manufacturing enterprises, as well as service institutions and research institutions, forming an ecological community with tightly linked production factors, strong industrial radiation and driving capabilities, and the same activity radius. This generates a "1+1>2" synergy effect, driving the high-end leap of advanced manufacturing.
Zhu Minghao, Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and Director of the Beijing New Industrialization Research Base, believes that the construction of advanced manufacturing clusters is not only conducive to guiding local areas to cultivate and expand emerging pillar industries based on local conditions under the framework of the national unified market, but also conducive to promoting industrial division of labor, cooperation, and orderly flow of factors among regions, facilitating the formation of a regional economic layout with complementary advantages and high-quality development.
Regarding the focus of world-class cluster construction, Zhu Minghao proposed that first, it is necessary to optimize the layout of major productive forces, break down market segmentation and low-level redundant construction, incorporate the effectiveness of cluster construction into the assessment of government economic tasks, clear the blockages in the flow of cluster elements, and promote the aggregation of various resources to clusters. Second, cultivate by classification, implement precise policies, and achieve common progress. It is necessary to base on China's advantageous position as the only country in the world possessing all industrial categories listed by the United Nations. According to the task requirements of different types of industries such as optimizing traditional industries and cultivating and expanding emerging and future industries, and aiming at the characteristics of world-leading industries, world-advanced industries, and industries with gaps, a "matrix-type" policy toolbox should be constructed to guide various national advanced manufacturing clusters to work together, improve quality and upgrade, strengthen cross-regional synergy and linkage, and move towards world-class advanced manufacturing clusters as a whole.
World-class advanced manufacturing clusters represent the highest level of global comprehensive competitiveness in a certain industry. Their most prominent feature is leadership, and they must become the sample and model for the development of similar industries. Shao Liguo, Deputy Director of the Planning and Research Institute of the China Academy of Electronics and Information Technology, believes that to cultivate world-class clusters, first of all, the improvement of technological innovation source capability should be put in the first place, and it should be built into a weathervane and source of global technological development. Secondly, it is necessary to master the manufacturing capacity of core products and be able to exert a strong influence on the global industrial development pattern. Thirdly, it is necessary to strengthen the cultivation of high-quality enterprises, forming world-class enterprises with the ability to "have the final say", as well as a group of single champion and specialized, refined, differential, and innovative "little giant" enterprises focusing on segmented fields, forming a highly efficient and highly resilient production network. Finally, it is necessary to cultivate a good industrial development ecosystem, forming a multi-level talent training system and a stable and efficient financial service system.
In Shao Liguo's view, a world-class advanced manufacturing cluster is a global concept, and the comprehensive strength of the cluster should be enhanced through open cooperation. On the one hand, it is necessary to promote the linked development among national-level clusters, explore new models of cross-regional industrial cooperation, promote the efficient flow of elements such as technology and talent among clusters, and eliminate "involution-style" competition among regions. On the other hand, it is necessary to promote national-level clusters to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with global leading clusters, and guide domestic cluster enterprises to efficiently utilize global resources and markets.
Authors | Qi Xu, Wu Lilin, Lu Yichen
Editor | Wu Lilin
Art Editor | Ma Liya Supervisor | Lian Xiaodong