Innovation is the trend of the era and a major driver of development. Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed innovation as an important force for promoting the development of a country and mankind as a whole.

“It won’t do without innovation, nor will it do if the innovation is carried out slowly,” Xi said. “We could be thrown into an unfavorable situation and miss opportunities for development or miss an entire era if we fail to recognize, respond to and innovatively seek changes,” he added.

He made the remarks at an event that combined the national conference on science and technology, the biennial conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the national congress of the China Association for Science and Technology on May 30. While clarifying the significance of innovation, Xi’s remarks also set a goal for China to become a leading power in science and technology.

Today, China has three missions to fulfill through innovation.

The first is to solve the country’s deep-rooted problems and realize the dream of great rejuvenation. American economist Michael Porter identified four stages of development in the evolution of a country: factors, investment, innovation and wealth. Porter’s theory states that as GDP grows and development conditions improve, innovation will inevitably become a source of momentum for growth.

Innovation is essential if China wishes to sidestep the middle-income trap and become a wealthy country. Because it is currently reliant on industries at the lower end of the global value chain that are labor and resource intensive, China has paid a high price in the form of resource consumption and environmental degredation. Innovation is the only way to keep pace with the world and seize initiative in development. Therefore, innovation-driven development is not only an international trend but also the key to rejuvenating the nation.

China’s second mission is to promote world economic growth and the progress of human civilization. Innovation is not only a way to solve Chinese problems but also a way to resolve the problems mankind faces. Nowadays, many emerging and developing countries are growing rapidly. With several development centers taking shape around the globe, the distribution of power internationally is now changing toward the direction of world peace and development.

This made it possible and also necessary for China to change its development orientation from a focus on catching up with and overtaking developed countries to an emphasis on innovation. This change in thinking is manifested in the recently published National Innovation-Driven Development Strategy Outline, which pointed out that the focus of China’s strategy for improving innovation capacity should shift from “following” to “paralleling” and “leading.”

Nick Campbell, editor-in-chief of Nature, pointed out that Chinese authorities greatly value scientific research, recognizing its role in driving economic growth. China soon will lead global scientific research and may become the biggest contributor to global scientific development in a couple of years.

The third mission is to develop China’s own path to independent innovation to set an example for other developing countries. In the span of only 30 years, China went through the first two periods of development driven by factors and investment. Now it has entered the innovation-driven period, which greatly encourages other developing countries. At the conference, Xi said science and technology form the bedrock upon which “the country relies for its power, enterprises rely for success, and people rely for a better life.”

The outline for innovation-driven development proposed a three-step strategic target. In the first step, China will become an innovative country by 2020. In the second step, China will become a leader among innovation-oriented countries by 2030. Lastly, China plans to become the world’s foremost scientific powerhouse by the centenary anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 2049. The strategy is an example of how a developing country can rise through innovation.

China is now leading world innovation through advocating and implementing correct views of righteousness and benefit as well as the concept of a community of common destiny. Together with other countries, especially those along the routes of the “Belt and Road” initiative, Chinese practice shows that innovation makes life better. Innovation is the biggest way in which China can contribute to the world. Through innovation, the dreams of China and the world can be integrated to promote world peace and development.

The article was translated from the People’s Daily. Wang Yiwei is a professor of international studies at Renmin University of China.