When drones begin traversing urban skies and the airspace below 1,000 meters gets redefined, a revolutionary economic transformation quietly unfolds. From electric vehicles to electric aviation, from wind matrices to low-altitude infrastructure, China positions itself at the forefront of the low-altitude economy, seeking new growth trajectories.
In a recent program, host Zhang Yuan visited the Shenzhen DeepThinking Laboratory to engage in an in-depth conversation with Yang Jun, a low-altitude economy scientist and director of DeepThinking Laboratory, exploring how the low-altitude economy can become China's new economic engine.
**01 A Scientist's Low-Altitude Vision**
In 2021, Yang Jun's DeepThinking Laboratory chose to establish operations in Shenzhen. That same year, Tesla Motors' Shanghai Gigafactory surpassed 250,000 units in production capacity, marking the near-maturity of automotive electrification. Their focus turned to the next trillion-dollar industry: aviation electrification.
"China's economy has entered a new phase, requiring original technological support to develop new economic models. DeepThinking Laboratory's mission is to use original technology to make China the source of the fourth industrial revolution," Yang Jun explained.
**02 Wind Matrix: Solving World-Class Challenges Below 1,000 Meters**
Entering DeepThinking Laboratory's "Wind Matrix" feels like stepping into a future "sky experimental field." This facility not only simulates urban wind flows and crossroad winds but also recreates complex low-altitude scenarios including sea breezes and updrafts.
Yang Jun and his team tackle three major world-class challenges here: - Digital capture and management of complex flow fields - Precision breakthrough in micro-meteorological forecasting - Communication and navigation in complex electromagnetic environments
These research efforts form the safety foundation for the low-altitude economy.
"We often joke that this is truly China's wind outlet, because it can genuinely determine future flight patterns," Yang Jun remarked.
**03 Aviation Electrification: Where is the Next Tesla?**
If Tesla Motors' success marked the maturity of automotive electrification, the future "Tesla Motors" will very likely emerge in the electric aviation sector.
Currently, the low-altitude economy has been designated as a national strategic emerging industry, with projected scale reaching 1.5 trillion yuan by 2025 and potentially breaking through 3.5 trillion yuan before 2035.
Yang Jun predicts that low-altitude infrastructure—test flight facilities, vertical takeoff and landing points, and communication systems—will represent the first wave of investment opportunities. Meanwhile, essential scenarios like emergency rescue and high-rise firefighting may be the first to establish viable commercial pathways.
**04 Standards Competition: The Ultimate Battlefield Determining Industry Future**
In the aviation industry, Europe and America have established comprehensive airworthiness certification systems through long-term data accumulation and research. However, the low-altitude economy lacks unified global standards, meaning China and the world stand at the same starting line.
"Industrial competition's foundation is cost-effectiveness, followed by intellectual property rights, with standards at the highest level. Whoever controls standard-setting authority will truly lead the industry landscape for the next decade."
**05 From Planar to Three-Dimensional: Economic Model Evolution**
Throughout human development history, from upright walking to the automotive age, each breakthrough has transformed economic models. Yang Jun believes the emergence of the low-altitude economy signifies a transition from two-dimensional to three-dimensional economics.
In the future, airspace may function like land, forming new economic resources and potentially generating "airspace GDP." Looking further ahead, low-altitude transportation will no longer be science fiction.
Regarding the low-altitude economy's prospects, Yang Jun expressed: "Whatever humanity can conceive, it can certainly achieve. Perhaps within my lifetime, I'll witness everyone traveling in aircraft, taking off from their doorsteps and arriving point-to-point at destinations."
The low-altitude economy stands at the wind outlet. Whoever masters the standards will command the future.
