In 2025, China's economy advanced under pressure and delivered an outstanding report card. From this performance report, it is evident that innovation has become the primary driving force propelling the Chinese economy towards new, superior, and high-quality development. From hardcore breakthroughs in laboratories to production line upgrades in factories, and from the emergence of new consumption scenarios to the reshaping of global competitiveness, how has innovation linked the entire chain of high-quality development, and what crucial policy support lies behind it? Today, we examine the answers written by innovation-driven growth for China's 2025 economy through this performance report. In 2025, China accelerated the construction of its modern industrial system, with exports of the "New Three" products growing by 27.1% and industrial robot exports surging by 48.7%, making China a net exporter of industrial robots. New growth drivers, represented by new quality productive forces, continued to strengthen, accelerating the formation of an innovation-driven growth pattern. Wang Guanhua, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics and Deputy Director of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics of the National Economy, stated: "Over the past year, China's economy has advanced under pressure towards new and superior development. This is reflected not only in our commendable growth rate but, more importantly, in the steady improvement in the quality of China's economic development. Last year, the value-added of the manufacturing sector stabilized at around 25% of the national economy, and the trend towards high-end, intelligent, and green development in manufacturing became very pronounced." The manufacturing sector is the "ballast" for a major economy. In 2025, the value-added of China's large-scale equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing industries increased by 9.2% and 9.4% respectively compared to the previous year, raising their shares in large-scale industry to 36.8% and 17.1% respectively. The output of new products such as electric multiple units, industrial robots, and servers maintained rapid growth. Chen Yutao, Deputy Director of the Standards Committee of the China Enterprise Confederation, said: "Equipment manufacturing is the foundation of industry, encompassing areas like machine tools, aerospace, and new energy vehicles. High-tech manufacturing refers to manufacturing sectors with relatively high R&D intensity within the large-scale industrial sector. The growth in data for these two directions indicates that we are gradually progressing from basic manufacturing towards advanced manufacturing." The development of advanced manufacturing is inseparable from the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation. In 2025, the value-added of China's large-scale intelligent unmanned aircraft manufacturing and intelligent vehicle equipment manufacturing industries increased year-on-year by 57% and 26.2% respectively, while the integrated circuit manufacturing and optoelectronic device manufacturing industries grew by 26.7% and 18.8% respectively. More Chinese companies emerged in new frontiers such as large AI models, quantum technology, and embodied AI. Huang Weiting, Deputy Director of the Decision Consultation Department at the Academy of Macroeconomic Research of the National Development and Reform Commission, commented: "The deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation means we must place innovation within the broad soil of the real economy to identify, cultivate, and strengthen it. The market plays a very important leading role in driving innovation. Enterprises play the main role in the innovation process." Over the past year, major projects accelerated their攻坚, and urban renewal upgraded its pace, shaping a better life for the people while driving coordinated progress across the upstream and downstream of the manufacturing industry chain. In an intelligent workshop of a pipe network product manufacturer in Linyi, Shandong, each steel pipe leaving the factory is equipped with a QR code identifier similar to an ID card, through which one can view the raw materials, processes, parameters, and quality inspection information for every pipe. Over the past year, this enterprise has deeply participated in several key projects, including the national energy backbone network and local city gas pipeline network renovations. Market demand has powerfully pulled the pace of the enterprise's transformation and upgrading. Product iteration and upgrading are inseparable from the enterprise's continuous increase in innovation and R&D investment. As a national-level "Little Giant" enterprise specializing in specific sectors, they have, in recent years, on one hand collaborated with universities and research institutes to tackle new material science challenges and improve pipeline anti-corrosion performance; on the other hand, they have promoted the iterative upgrading of intelligent production lines, continuously improving production efficiency and product precision. In China, enterprises have become the main force in R&D investment. Data shows that in 2025, China's gross domestic expenditure on research and experimental development (R&D) reached 3.9262 trillion yuan, maintaining its position as the second highest in the world for many consecutive years. Huang Weiting noted: "Innovation in 2025 included not only major innovations in critical national projects but also many small and beautiful innovations. It encompassed not only discoveries exploring the future but also technological updates and iterations in traditional fields. Major innovations require pooling resources from all aspects, but for enterprises, especially many small and medium-sized enterprises, small and beautiful innovations, like numerous small streams, converge to form great rivers." Wang Guanhua added: "One data point from last year should be considered symbolic: our R&D intensity—the ratio of society's R&D expenditure to GDP—reached a new high of 2.8%. This also marks the first time we have exceeded the average level of OECD countries. More innovative achievements moved from the laboratory to the production line, from the bookshelf to the marketplace, promoting the continuous transformation of innovation potential into development momentum." While innovation has become the main engine driving high-quality development, it cannot thrive without careful policy support. In the traditional bank loan evaluation system, financial indicators such as the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow are the core assessment criteria, making it difficult for many "asset-light, high-growth, investment-heavy" small, medium, and micro-sized technology enterprises to obtain bank credit support. Addressing the pain points of these SMEs, the Sichuan Branch of the Postal Savings Bank of China started from the financial supply side, developing and launching the "Sci-Tech Loan" product, innovatively resolving the structural contradiction between supply and demand. In May 2025, the Ministry of Science and Technology and six other departments issued the "Several Policy Measures to Accelerate the Construction of a Sci-Tech Finance System and Strongly Support High-Level Sci-Tech Self-Reliance and Strength," further strengthening financial support for major national scientific and technological tasks and sci-tech SMEs. Data indicates that in 2025, China's credit structure continued to optimize, with loans in areas such as technology, green development, and digital economy maintaining double-digit growth, consistently higher than the growth rate of total loans. This is a microcosm of China's proactive and effective macro policies driving high-quality economic development. Tian Xuan, former Dean of the National Institute of Financial Research at Tsinghua University, explained: "In 2025, there was precise, targeted support for technological innovation. For instance, the upper limit for relending funds supporting technological innovation and technological transformation was increased to 800 billion yuan, and just the other day, the central bank further raised it to 1.2 trillion yuan. From a fiscal policy perspective, within the 'Two Major Projects' construction, ultra-long-term special government bonds are designated to support scientific and technological innovation, and many local government special bonds also support sci-tech innovation enterprises. Particularly, tax reductions and fee cuts for innovative enterprises have lowered their corresponding costs, playing a very important role in supporting their long-term technological innovation." Looking around China today, one in every ten cars on the road is a new energy vehicle (NEV). Data shows that in 2025, China's production and sales of NEVs reached 16.626 million and 16.49 million units respectively, increasing by 29% and 28.2% year-on-year, maintaining the top global position for 11 consecutive years. On the export front, it is a shining Chinese name card to the world; on the consumption front, it is a major product for trade-in programs; on the production front, it is a vital pillar industry of the national economy. The production and circulation of a single automobile involve the precise collaboration and efficient operation of dozens of industries and tens of thousands of components. The new report card delivered by China's automotive industry demonstrates the strong resilience and vitality of the Chinese economy amidst complex changes. Wang Guanhua stated: "The new energy vehicle industry is an important component of the modern industrial system and plays a very significant role in cultivating new quality productive forces and promoting the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure. Firstly, trends like electrification, intelligence, and connectivity are driving the deep integration of the automotive industry with high-end manufacturing, green energy, artificial intelligence, and other industries. Many innovative achievements are first implemented and scaled in the automotive industry." At the beginning of the new year, in the Intelligent Electromagnetic Power System Laboratory of the Anhui Automotive Innovation Center, R&D personnel are focused on product development for the intelligent chassis of new energy vehicles. These key components essentially act as the "central decision-making brain" for the vehicle, enabling integrated intelligent control during operation. In Anhui, innovation R&D centers like this one, along with numerous research institutes, are veritable "treasure troves" of technology supporting the local automotive industry. Currently, Anhui has gathered 7整车 enterprises, forming a complete automotive industry chain covering vehicle manufacturing, core components, and aftermarket services. At every stage of automobile production, the fruits of scientific and technological innovation are empowering the industry's development. Chen Yutao said: "The proposals for the '15th Five-Year Plan' also call for 'using new demand to guide new supply, and using new supply to create new demand.' The development of the entire new energy vehicle industry chain has driven the sales volume of high-end steel and special steel in our country to increase by 30% compared to before. Simultaneously, a single vehicle uses roughly over 2,000 chips. This demand for over 2,000 chips has, in turn, driven the development of the entire semiconductor integrated circuit and new-generation information technology industries. While the growth appears in data like NEV sales, exports, and production, behind it lies the leapfrog advancement of our country's overall manufacturing capability, especially in advanced manufacturing." Throughout the year, "Made in China," born from new quality productive forces, continuously leaped and upgraded. At the same time, the pace of green transformation also accelerated significantly. Last year, China's annual electricity consumption exceeded 100 trillion kilowatt-hours for the first time, supported by a clean and efficient energy supply system. Data shows that in 2025, electricity generation from clean energy sources such as hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, and solar power in large-scale industries grew by 8.8%. The proportion of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption increased by approximately 2 percentage points compared to 2024. In the全社会 electricity consumption, one out of every three kilowatt-hours came from green power. In Lishui, Zhejiang, the geographical disadvantage of being surrounded by mountains is being transformed into a green advantage. In 2025, the local area actively promoted photovoltaics to become the main installed power source in the city, driving 7.2 billion yuan in new energy investment. They built a modern energy system based on hydropower, with solar and wind power as growth points, pumped storage hydropower as the core support, and coordinated development of various green energy sources. They also established a new power system featuring the synergistic integration of the physical grid and the digital grid. Driven by innovation and led by green development. In the开局之年, a series of more proactive and effective macro policies were successively introduced, new growth drivers evolved rapidly, and the ship of the Chinese economy, with a more solid chassis and stronger framework, is forging ahead along the course of high-quality development. The 2025 economic report card of China is exceptionally valuable; behind the figure of 140 trillion yuan lies answers full of development oriented towards the new and the superior. China's progress in innovation-driven growth, industrial quality improvement, digital empowerment, and green transformation is evident to all. Recently, major international organizations have successively raised their growth forecasts for China, indicating the international community's optimism regarding China's economic development prospects. Adhering to an innovation-driven approach and intensifying efforts to cultivate and strengthen new growth drivers, China, marching forward towards the "new" in the new year, is bound to deliver a brilliant report card achieving a good start for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.
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