Emerging frontier technologies are driving industrial innovation, with the development of future industries becoming a key engine for new quality productive forces in the new era, officials and experts said.
The insights were shared during the latest episode of China Economic Roundtable, an all-media talk show hosted by Chinese official News Agency Xinhua.
Liu Dongmei, Party secretary of the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, said that frontier technologies have advanced rapidly in recent years. In areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information, and biomanufacturing, China is now in a phase marked by leading-edge achievements in some fields while keeping pace with global counterparts.
She noted that China has established a relatively mature development pattern, with breakthroughs in basic research, accumulated core technologies, large-scale industrial applications, and a growing international presence. Liu highlighted that China’s AI sector ranks among the global top tier, citing Ministry of Industry and Information Technology data showing that downloads for open-source large models provided by Chinese enterprises in 2025 were the highest in the world.
Liu Hui, head of a research institute at JD.com, said new technologies are the fundamental growth drivers for the company, which has deployed 50,000 internal agents, or “digital colleagues,” to enhance operational efficiency.
Zhai Tianrui, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and Zhongguancun Science Park Administrative Committee, said that in 2025, Beijing had 116 unicorn enterprises, ranking first in China and third globally in both number and valuation. The city’s unicorns cover 11 industries, with AI representing the largest sector.