Xinjiang has detailed its strategic roadmap for technological innovation during the period of its 15th Five-Year Plan. By 2026, the region aims for a net increase of 600 high-tech enterprises, a total technology contract transaction value exceeding 16 billion yuan, and the deployment of no fewer than 1,200 science and technology commissioners to provide grassroots services.
At a recent press conference themed on "Deeply Implementing the Strategy of Rejuvenating Xinjiang Through Science and Technology and Developing New Quality Productive Forces Based on Local Conditions," officials from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region reviewed achievements in building strong regional capacities in education, science, technology, talent, and cyberspace during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and outlined the innovation roadmap for the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Xinjiang will vigorously promote technological innovation as a "key variable" and accelerate its transformation into the "greatest increment" of new quality productive forces, aiming to fully stimulate innovation vitality and enhance new momentum for high-quality development.
Building High-Level Innovation Platforms
High-level innovation platforms serve as the "hard support" for accelerating innovation. In recent years, Xinjiang has focused on building a systematic technological innovation "main force" that serves strategic needs and possesses Xinjiang characteristics, continuously optimizing the layout of high-level innovation platforms.
In terms of policy support, the regional government issued the "Guidelines for the Construction of Xinjiang Laboratories" in December 2023, initiating the establishment of Xinjiang Laboratories. In November 2025, following deliberation by the regional government, the "Measures for the Administration of High-Level Science and Technology Innovation Platforms in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Trial)" were issued.
Since the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Xinjiang has continuously improved its science and technology innovation platform system, constructing a network of innovation carriers that features "national-level and regional-level" linkage and coordination, covering multiple fields.
Zhu Dagang, Party Secretary and Deputy Director of the Xinjiang Department of Science and Technology, introduced that, focusing on major national and regional strategies and key livelihood needs, Xinjiang has approved the construction of five Xinjiang Laboratories: the Tianshan Laboratory, the Silk Road Water Laboratory, the Kunlun Intelligent Equipment Laboratory, the Xinjiang Energy and Chemical Industry Laboratory, and the Xinjiang Green Mining Laboratory.
It is reported that the directors of these Xinjiang Laboratories are all renowned academicians or key scientific research backbones from academician teams in relevant fields. Centered on major demands in their respective areas and driven by significant scientific research tasks, they are accelerating breakthroughs in key core technologies.
For example, the Tianshan Laboratory has secured and undertaken related topics under national major science and technology projects and has introduced six academician teams, including those led by Pan Yishan and Kang Hongpu, to conduct R&D work. The Silk Road Water Laboratory, with Chinese Academy of Engineering academician Deng Mingjiang as its director, focuses on major water resource demands for Xinjiang's industrial development and the frontiers of water resource science and technology in arid regions, laying out plans across 3 directions and 9 specific tasks.
Zhu Dagang stated that Xinjiang will next actively prepare to establish Xinjiang Laboratories in the fields of artificial intelligence, innovative pharmaceuticals, intelligent breeding, as well as basalt and non-ferrous metal materials.
By coordinating the layout of various national and regional high-level innovation platforms, the Xinjiang Laboratories aim to achieve basic coverage in Xinjiang's characteristic and advantageous industries, ecological environment, and life health sectors, making high-level innovation platforms the true "main force" and "vanguard" in driving Xinjiang's technological innovation.
Cultivating High-Tech Enterprises in a Tiered Manner
Enterprises are the main body of innovation. In recent years, Xinjiang has deeply implemented a high-tech enterprise doubling action. Through policy incentives, financial support, guidance, and training measures, the number of high-tech enterprises has grown from 792 in 2020 to 3,229 in 2025, with an average annual growth rate of 32.5%, ranking 23rd nationally.
Qiu Xusheng, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Xinjiang Department of Science and Technology, introduced that Xinjiang primarily focuses on three aspects to intensify the cultivation of high-tech enterprises.
First, strengthening top-level design by formulating and implementing the "Implementation Plan for the High-Tech Enterprise Doubling Action in Xinjiang (2022-2025)," incorporating the development of high-tech enterprises as an important indicator into the comprehensive performance assessment of prefectures and cities, strengthening coordination between higher and lower levels, and promoting implementation layer by layer.
Second, strengthening work coordination, with multiple departments collaborating to implement preferential policies, establishing a joint meeting system, deepening data sharing, and improving supervision quality and efficiency.
Third, strengthening service empowerment by constructing a three-tier gradient cultivation database, achieving "one enterprise, one file" management, increasing policy publicity efforts, building an information service platform to achieve full-process digital management, and cumulatively enrolling 6,177 reserve enterprises.
With substantial financial support from the regional government, the tax payments and tax benefits enjoyed by Xinjiang's high-tech enterprises have increased significantly. From 2021 to 2025, the regional government cumulatively allocated 1.056 billion yuan in special funds for high-tech enterprise development, with 14 prefectures and cities providing matching funds of 697 million yuan, forming a work pattern of coordinated support from different administrative levels.
Simultaneously, Xinjiang has fully implemented policies such as additional deductions for R&D expenses, corporate income tax reductions for high-tech enterprises, and additional VAT deductions. From 2021 to 2025, cumulative tax reductions amounted to 44.5 billion yuan, effectively lowering the innovation costs for enterprises.
Qiu Xusheng stated that the next step for Xinjiang is to anchor the development goals of "stabilizing quantity, improving quality, optimizing structure, and increasing benefits," focus on key industrial clusters, promote the multi-level and progressive cultivation of high-tech enterprises; accelerate the construction of the Xinjiang High-Tech Enterprise Management Service Platform; strengthen digital empowerment and precise services; further gather innovation factors; enhance the overall innovation capability and market competitiveness of high-tech enterprises; and achieve simultaneous growth in both quantity and quality.
Promoting Digital Transformation Across Industries
In recent years, by implementing national deployments to promote deep integration of informatization and industrialization, and through optimizing policies, strengthening services, building platforms, creating ecosystems, and promoting transformation, Xinjiang has achieved positive results in the digital transformation of its manufacturing sector.
On one hand, Xinjiang's digital infrastructure has been continuously improved. The region has cumulatively built over 100,000 5G base stations, established one national-level cross-industry and cross-domain industrial internet platform and two identification and resolution secondary nodes. Pilot projects for power-computing synergy are accelerating, with a computational power scale of 25,000 P already built and put into operation.
On the other hand, the effectiveness of digital transformation in Xinjiang is evident. Through implementing intelligent transformation, digitalization, and network connectivity, the numerical control rate of key processes in industrial enterprises and the penetration rate of digital R&D design tools in Xinjiang have reached 61.7% and 56.0%, respectively. Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture and Karamay City were selected as national pilot cities for the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises. The region has cultivated one national-level digital navigation enterprise, nine 5G factories, and seven excellent-level smart factories.
Furthermore, the supply of digital products and services in Xinjiang is continuously enriching. The region has promoted the establishment of the Xinjiang branch of the Smart Manufacturing Alliance, supported the construction of innovation platforms like the Manufacturing Digital Transformation Promotion Center, and nurtured 63 digital service providers, significantly enhancing the supply capacity for digital-intelligent transformation.
Cheng Duofu, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Xinjiang Department of Industry and Information Technology, stated that the industry and information technology department will next actively implement the national "Manufacturing Digital Transformation Action Plan" to promote the intelligent, green, and integrated development of manufacturing.
Digital transformation is empowering numerous industries. Currently, Xinjiang is accelerating the integration of data elements into six major digital Xinjiang application scenarios: Party building, government affairs, economy, society, culture, and public safety. It is promoting the construction of high-quality datasets in five key areas: agriculture and rural areas, social governance, culture and tourism, remote sensing images, and smart energy, providing data support for the implementation of the "Artificial Intelligence Plus" initiative.
Halimulati Abudukelimu, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Xinjiang Digital Development Bureau, introduced that Xinjiang has built an integrated regional data resource service platform, which has aggregated 12.68 billion data entries (26.15 TB of data volume) from 62 regional-level units, providing 109 million instances of data sharing services to various departments of the regional government.
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