China forges ahead with integrated development of sci-tech, industrial innovation

BEIJING -- China is making concrete efforts in promoting the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, a guest speaker has told the latest episode of China Economic Roundtable, an all-media talk show hosted by Xinhua News Agency.

Gan Xiaobin, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said that by the end of last year, the number of "little giant" enterprises had reached 14,600 in China. These "little giant" enterprises, which represent the novel elites of small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in niche markets, boast cutting-edge technologies and show great potential.

Gan further noted that since the beginning of 2025, efforts have been made to enhance platform development by actively promoting innovation capabilities at 33 national-level manufacturing innovation centers.

Additionally, optimization and restructuring have been advanced for 187 key laboratories under the MIIT, while the first batch of 241 pilot testing platforms has been selected as part of China's quest to create high-level innovation and service platforms.

The science and technology service industry is a driving force for the deep integration of sci-tech innovation and industrial innovation, said Gan, adding that China has adopted several measures to support the high-quality development of the industry -- including the release on May 19 of an implementation guideline on accelerating the high-quality development of the science and technology services sector.

This guideline sets out goals which aim to improve the development ecosystem, expand the scale and efficiency of the sector, accelerate the transformation and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements, and support the integrated development of sci-tech and industrial innovation. It also calls for efforts to promote the high-end, smart, green and integrated development of this sector.