On February 4, 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission announced that the 2016 edition Directive Catalog for Key Products and Services of Strategic Emerging Industries (short for the Catalog hereinafter) was formulated and the Catalog was revised and improved based on the 2013 edition.

Based on the 8 industries in 5 fields defined in the Planning, the Catalog further defines nearly 4,000 products and services of 174 sub-directions under 40 key directions, and involves strategic emerging industries like new-generation IT, high-end equipment manufacturing, new material, biology, new energy and digital creation. 

In comparison with the 3,100 products and services under 24 key directions of 7 industries in the 2013 edition, the 2016 Catalog has 1 more industry and 16 new key directions including about 900 products and services.

The 2016 edition is a specific measure to carry out the Planning, guide the direction of social resources, further define products and services with market demands and value in the industries and offer support for enterprises in formulating strategies and policies, said industrial insiders.

Comparing with the 2013 edition, the new Catalog adds digital creation industry to the key industrial field, including the directions on digital cultural creation equipment, contents and design services. Different with other industries and hard strength, it focuses on the increase of soft power. It is a measure that meets both material and spiritual demands, and a measure that increases effective supply through strengthens source design. Under the New Normal of economic development, strategic emerging industries will break the development bottleneck of traditional industries, create valuable opportunities for China in overtaking developed countries and competing with them, said Xue Lan, dean of the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University.

According to the Planning issued by the State Council in last December, five new pillar industries with 10 trillion yuan-level output value, such as new-generation IT, high-end manufacturing, biology, green and low-carbon, and digital creation, will be formed by 2020. And many cross-border new growth points will take into shape in a wider field to create more than 1 million new jobs each year in average.

On one hand, the Planning, based on current industrial development status, accelerates the development of new-generation IT and other four major fields. On the other hand, towards the global new trends and new directions on new-round sci-tech revolution and industrial reform, the Planning makes employment in the four strategic industries including space and ocean, information network, biology and nuclear technology to forge new advantages in future development.

Strategic emerging industries, representing the new round sci-tech revolution and industrial reform direction, are the key fields for nurturing new development momentum and acquiring strengths in future competitions, said the relevant director of NDRC to the reporter. Now, the venture capital invested in strategic emerging industries has accounted for 80% of China’s total in this aspect.

According to Xu Chi from the Research Center of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the 13^th Five-year Plan period is the key 5-year term for China’s industrialization shift from the mid- and late-industrialization to the late-industrialization, and the economic transformation and upgrading will be continuously boosted in the period. Now, our high-tech industry’s added value, exports and export added value have exceed those of the US, and ranked the No. 1 in the world, indicating China’s rapid upgrading toward the No. 1 high-tech manufacturing power and the accelerated shift of economic growth momentum. 

Source: Translated from Invest Guangzhou, Feb. 6, 2017