At present, Shenyang has established a full-industry chain aviation system covering aero engine aircraft, civil aircraft large parts subcontracting and parts manufacturing, general aviation and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), as well as aviation operation and maintenance services. In the future, Shenyang will also rely on the existing industrial base to accelerate the cultivation and expansion of low-altitude economic industrial clusters, cultivate and develop low-altitude economy, and show the new vitality of Liaoning's new quality productivity development. The picture shows the staff assembling the fuselage in the Shenfei civil aircraft workshop of the aviation industry. Xinhua
Yuan Da
On January 31, 2024, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech when presiding over the 11th collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, systematically expounding the scientific connotation of new quality productivity from the combination of theory and practice, profoundly pointing out the great significance of developing new quality productivity, and putting forward clear requirements for the development of new quality productivity. General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important expositions on the new quality of productive forces reflect a profound grasp of the law of the development of productive forces and the outstanding problems faced by the development of the mainland, inherit and develop the Marxist theory of productive forces, and are the latest progress in the sinicization of Marxist theory of productive forces, which further enriches the theoretical system of Xi Jinping's economic thought, and provides scientific guidance for promoting the high-quality development of China's economy in the new era and new journey, which has important theoretical and practical significance.
The background of the emergence of new quality productivity
Productive forces are the fundamental driving force for the development of human society, and they are also the ultimate cause of all social and political changes. The fundamental task of socialism is to emancipate and develop the social productive forces. At present, the mainland has embarked on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way and marching towards the second centenary goal, coordinating the overall strategy of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the great changes in the world unseen in a century, and promoting high-quality development, which needs the guidance of new productivity theory.
From an international point of view, a higher level of productivity is needed to cope with the accelerated evolution of the world's great changes unseen in a century. At present, the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, and the momentum of world economic growth brought about by the third industrial revolution is gradually weakening, and the development of traditional productive forces is facing more risks and challenges, and it is urgent to rely on a higher level of productivity to change the momentum of economic growth. In this context, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation characterized by artificial intelligence, a new generation of information technology, and biotechnology is brewing around the world, which is injecting new momentum into world economic growth and will bring about a great leap in productivity. At the same time, economic globalization has encountered "headwinds and headwinds", protectionism and unilateralism are on the rise, and the United States and Western countries have carried out all-round containment, containment and suppression against China, hoping to implement "decoupling and breaking the chain" and build a "small courtyard and high wall". We must seize the opportunity of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, adhere to the principle of self-reliance, accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance, use disruptive technology and cutting-edge technology to give birth to new industries, new models and new kinetic energy, seize the opportunity in new fields and new tracks, take the lead in the development of productive forces, and win the initiative in development in the fierce international competition.
From a domestic point of view, the overall strategy of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires strong support from new productive forces. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has continuously deepened its understanding of the characteristics and laws of the stages of the mainland's economic development, and placed more emphasis on the high quality of development. High-quality development cannot only rely on the expansion of traditional productive forces, but simply expand the reproduction of the factor allocation, organization mode and economic structure of the old mode of production. High-quality development should get rid of the traditional economic growth mode and productivity development path, and achieve greater breakthroughs and greater development in the level of productivity through major technological progress and reform, innovative allocation of production factors, and in-depth transformation and upgrading of industries, form new industries, new models, and new kinetic energy, firmly grasp key core technologies in their own hands, build a modern industrial system that is independent and controllable, safe and reliable, and highly competitive, and realize innovation-driven development.
The qualitative characteristics of the new qualitative productivity
General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly grasped the law of development of the productive forces and the practical problems faced by the economic and social development of the mainland, scientifically summarized the connotation and characteristics of the new quality of productivity, and pointed out that "the new quality of productivity is the quality of advanced productivity that plays a leading role in innovation, gets rid of the traditional economic growth mode and productivity development path, has the characteristics of high technology, high efficiency and high quality, and conforms to the new development concept." It is born by the revolutionary breakthrough of technology, the innovative allocation of production factors, and the deep transformation and upgrading of the industry, with the basic connotation of laborers, labor materials, labor objects and their optimal combinations, and the substantial increase in total factor productivity as the core symbol, characterized by innovation, the key is high quality, and the essence is advanced productivity. ”
From the perspective of historical development, every leap in productivity has its qualitative characteristics of scientific and technological innovation. Productivity is the material force formed by human beings in the practice of production to transform and influence nature to make it suitable for social needs, and every qualitative change of productivity makes human labor ability be further liberated. Marx attached great importance to the tremendous role of major technological changes in promoting the development of productive forces, regarded science and technology as "a revolutionary force that plays a driving role in history", and believed that "the productive forces of labor are constantly developing with the continuous progress of science and technology". The mechanization of the first industrial revolution in the 18th century was the first great emancipation of human labor capacity in history, and Marx distinguished the factory handicraft industry from the large-scale industrial production of machines, emphasizing that the latter truly formed a material basis compatible with the modern capitalist mode of production. In the 19th century, the electrification of the second industrial revolution, the internal combustion engine became a new tool of labor, and the energy revolution such as electricity and oil accelerated the development of industrialization, the intensity of capital and technological factors was significantly improved, labor productivity was greatly improved, and labor force was once again liberated. Then to the informatization of the third industrial revolution in the 20th century, computer information technology has been applied on a large scale, which has profoundly changed the industrial form and production organization mode, and has brought about the improvement of mental labor while liberating manual labor, and promoted the further leap in the level of productivity. It can be seen that every major scientific and technological innovation in human society will lead to subversive changes in the driving force of economic and social development, bring about the great liberation of social productive forces, and also lead to profound social changes and systematic reshaping of the world economic and political pattern. In this process, some countries have seized the rare opportunity of the scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and their comprehensive national strength has increased rapidly, and they have even become world powers.
Judging from the current practice, the new quality productive forces have the qualitative characteristics of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. As the mainland enters the stage of high-quality development, there is an urgent need to get rid of the traditional mode of economic growth and vigorously develop new quality productive forces characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, which represent the development direction of advanced productive forces. At present, we are in a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, some major disruptive technological innovations are creating new industries and new formats, a new generation of information technology represented by artificial intelligence, quantum information, etc., life science technology represented by gene editing, brain science, etc., and new energy technology with the goal of clean, efficient and sustainable are widely penetrated into almost all industrial fields, and are accelerating the transformation and development of manufacturing industry to intelligence, digitalization and greening, so as to promote the comprehensive transformation of human production and lifestyle. Scientific and technological innovation, especially original and disruptive scientific and technological achievements, are emerging, promoting the acceleration of iterative leaps in productivity, promoting profound changes in laborers, labor materials, labor objects and their combinations, constantly breaking through the limitations of traditional factors of production, releasing huge development potential, and greatly improving total factor productivity, reflecting a qualitative state different from the development of traditional productive forces.
Actively cultivate and develop new quality productive forces
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the development of new quality productivity is an inherent requirement and an important focus for promoting high-quality development. We should fully understand the extreme importance of accelerating the development of new quality productivity to promote high-quality development, seize the opportunity of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, increase scientific and technological innovation, cultivate and expand emerging industries, advance the layout and construction of future industries, promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, continuously improve the modern industrial system, actively cultivate and develop new quality productivity, and promote high-quality economic development.
Actively promote the development of new industries, new models and new kinetic energy. The new quality of productivity will bring about a systematic change in the social production process, which can not only give birth to new factors of production and new industrial sectors and industrial clusters, but also promote the recombination of old factors of production in new technological and organizational ways, and greatly improve production efficiency. First, it is necessary to accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance, strengthen scientific and technological innovation, especially original and disruptive scientific and technological innovation, improve the basic system to support comprehensive innovation, give full play to the advantages of the new national system, do a good job in tackling key core technologies, aim at the needs of industrial development, deploy and implement a number of major national scientific and technological projects, strengthen disruptive technology, cutting-edge technology research and applied basic research, and strive to promote technological revolutionary breakthroughs. Second, it is necessary to grasp the key link of the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements, apply scientific and technological innovation achievements to specific industries and industrial chains, build an innovation consortium with efficient collaboration between industry, academia and research, and close cooperation between upstream and downstream, explore and accelerate the pilot test of innovative products, and improve the level of transformation and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. Third, it is necessary to cultivate and expand emerging industries, advance the layout of future industries, deeply implement the national strategic emerging industrial cluster development project, start the implementation of industrial innovation projects, focus on the new generation of information technology, intelligent (networked) vehicles, new energy, high-end equipment, biomedicine and high-end medical equipment, aerospace, new materials, green environmental protection and other key areas, and promote the research and development of key technologies, the application of independent achievements, and the cultivation of industrial ecology.
Promote the intelligent, digital, and green transformation of traditional industries. The new quality of productivity does not imply a simple replacement or negation of traditional productivity. The new quality productive forces will recombine the old factors of production, promote the upgrading of the industrial structure, re-stimulate the recovery of the traditional productive forces, and endow them with greater production benefits. First, it is necessary to vigorously promote the intelligent transformation of traditional industries, implement the "artificial intelligence +" action, orderly empower key areas, accelerate the reshaping of industrial ecology, and improve the intelligent level of petrochemical industry, metallurgy, building materials, machinery, light industry, textile and other industries. Second, it is necessary to promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, and implement the action plan of "data element ×". We will work together to promote digital industrialization and industrial digitization, organize and implement action plans for the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, and build digital industrial clusters with international competitiveness. Third, it is necessary to accelerate the innovation of green technology and the promotion and application of advanced green technologies, continue to build a market-oriented green technology innovation system, and organize the implementation of green and low-carbon advanced technology demonstration projects. Implement the guiding catalogue of green and low-carbon transformation industries, develop green and low-carbon industries and supply chains, formulate action plans for energy conservation and carbon reduction, implement special actions for energy conservation and carbon reduction in different industries and fields, and increase support for energy conservation and carbon reduction in key areas. Strengthen resource conservation, intensive recycling, and efficient utilization, and build a green circular economy system.
Create a favorable macroeconomic policy environment. To develop new productive forces, it is necessary to form a new type of production relations that are compatible with them, which requires not only the government's advanced planning and guidance, scientific policy support, but also the regulation of market mechanisms and the continuous innovation of enterprises and other business entities, which are jointly cultivated and driven by the "visible hand" of the government and the "invisible hand" of the market. First, it is necessary to innovate and improve macroeconomic regulation and control, give full play to the strategic guiding role of planning and planning, strengthen counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustment of macroeconomic policies, strengthen the coordination and cooperation of fiscal, monetary, industrial, regional, scientific and technological, and environmental protection policies, and form a good policy environment conducive to the development of new productive forces. Second, it is necessary to improve the performance evaluation methods for promoting high-quality development, give full play to the role of the baton, and promote all localities and departments to conscientiously practice the correct concept of political performance in the process of developing new quality productive forces, and effectively form a correct work orientation. Third, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, smooth production, distribution, circulation and consumption, improve the efficiency of resource allocation, and promote the agglomeration of various high-quality factors in the direction of new productive forces. Fourth, it is necessary to strengthen the assessment of the consistency of the orientation of the newly introduced policies and the macro policies, strengthen the overall planning of policies, scientifically grasp the timing of the introduction of policies, promote all aspects to introduce more policies that are conducive to accelerating the development of new quality productive forces, and prudently introduce policies that restrict the development of new quality productive forces.
(The author is Deputy Secretary-General of the National Development and Reform Commission and Director of the Comprehensive Department, originally published in Research on Xi Jinping's Economic Thought, Issue 3, 2024)