At the National Supercomputing Center in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin Municipality in northern China, the latest generation of the “Tianhe” supercomputer operates continuously at tens of billions of computations per second, supporting the vital rhythms of China’s economy. From precise weather forecasting and CT-based oil exploration to large-scale modeling for traditional Chinese medicine and genomic sequencing, over 20,000 computational tasks are processed here daily. This “super brain” has already contributed to more than 4,000 innovative achievements, generating nearly 15 billion yuan in economic benefits. It stands not only as a showcase of technological prowess but also as a vivid example of how computational power is being transformed into new quality productive forces, driving high-quality development across strategic sectors.

Since the introduction of the concept of “new quality productive forces” in September 2023, this core idea guiding China’s high-quality development has triggered profound transformations in industrial practice while igniting a wave of interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional academic research.

From national strategy to academic focus

New quality productive forces are increasingly recognized as a decisive driver of innovation-led development, making their study an undeniable focus within economics. To date, more than 20,000 academic papers have addressed this concept. Academic seminars and forums increasingly place it at the center of discussion, while a growing number of universities have established dedicated research institutes, advancing both the depth and scope of scholarly exploration in this area.

Pan Yue, head of the New Quality Productive Forces Research and Development Center at Xiamen University and director of the university’s Office of Social Sciences Research Administration, specializes in corporate technological innovation. She argues that traditional factors of production are no longer sufficient to sustain high-quality development independently, emphasizing the importance of breakthroughs in technology and institutional coordination to overcome external constraints.

According to Pan, new quality productive forces represent a systemic restructuring of capabilities—centered on scientific and technological innovation and reinforced by institutional innovation. They represent not merely a new theoretical concept, but a strategic pathway for China to navigate technological competition and achieve greater developmental independence.

The transformation of traditional industries has also drawn scholarly attention as a viable route to developing new quality productive forces. Yang Zhen, an associate research fellow from the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, illustrated the case of Shaodong City in central China’s Hunan Province. Known for its traditional strengths in hardware, lighters, and leather goods, the city has seen its lighter manufacturers enhance product reliability through digital upgrades, while also expanding into international markets with entrepreneurial drive and government support.

Yang praised this approach, noting the dual strategy that “the government sets the stage and enterprises take the lead” not only elevates product quality and upgrades traditional industrial value chains but also creates new opportunities for Chinese products in global markets.

Tailored practices

China’s development of new quality productive forces does not follow a “one-size-fits-all” model applied uniformly across cities. Rather, it is adapted to regional industrial foundations, talent pools, and resource endowments, gradually shaping distinctive characteristics suited to local conditions. Zhou Mi, director of the Research Center for China Urban and Regional Economy at Nankai University, and her team study the development of new quality productive forces according to local circumstances. Their research reveals marked differences between northern and southern China.

The Yangtze River Delta, for example, is technology-intensive and market-driven, with notable advantages in both the number and growth of companies engaged in future-oriented industries, demonstrating strong capabilities in innovation incubation and commercialization. In contrast, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, with its deep industrial base in energy, infrastructure, and other fundamental sectors critical to the national economy and people’s livelihoods, shows steadier development.

Practical examples of these tailored approaches are emerging across regions. The Yangtze River Delta is striving to become a “global digital innovation hub.” Hangzhou’s “China valley of vision” and Shanghai’s “large model industrial ecosystem,” for instance, fully leverage the region’s strong digital economy foundation and concentration of innovative resources to drive cutting-edge industrial transformation.