China Maps out New‑Industrialisation Roadmap for 15th Five‑Year Period

According to State Council Information Office news briefing materials released on 26 August, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has laid out detailed work arrangements for advancing new‑style industrialisation throughout the 15th Five‑Year timeframe. A formal planning document targeting small‑and‑medium‑sized enterprise development is scheduled for official publication in the near future.

Senior officials outlined plans to restructure national industry, balancing the upgrading of established traditional sectors alongside the expansion of emerging industries and forward‑looking layout for future‑oriented technology fields. Key emerging pillar industries set for accelerated scaling‑up include integrated circuits, aerospace, biomedicine, low‑altitude mobility, new‑form energy storage and intelligent robotics. Quantum science, biological manufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, brain‑computer interfaces, embodied intelligence and sixth‑generation mobile communications (6G) are marked out as areas capable of delivering fresh economic growth.

Efforts to scale up emerging industries will run along four parallel strands: targeted breakthroughs in core technologies, the growth of industrial parks and leading enterprises, cultivation of real‑world deployment scenarios, and optimisation of overall industrial ecosystems. Policy targets foresee the nurturing of roughly 100 demonstration industrial parks by 2035. These sites are expected to exert strong spill‑over effects for cluster‑based innovation. Around 1,000 benchmark enterprises will also be fostered, achieving leading performance in product development, technical innovation, new business models and operational management.

Within information‑communications development, systematic infrastructure building is to move forward. Authorities will press ahead with the deployment of dual‑10G fixed and mobile broadband networks and enhance collaborative scheduling across computing and communications resources, whilst advancing the internet of intelligent agents. Greater integration between satellite‑based and terrestrial communications networks will extend coverage into a comprehensive space‑air‑sea‑ground communications framework. Expansion of submarine and overland international cable routes aims to strengthen resilience within cross‑border digital connectivity. Further construction for mobile‑IoT, industrial communications networks and vehicle‑linked networks will unlock practical use‑cases and support intelligent transformation across vertical industrial sectors. 6G represents a top‑priority field across this planning cycle. Research teams will keep advancing core technical trials and international standard‑setting work, nurturing the whole industrial ecosystem and making thorough groundwork ahead of future commercial roll‑out.

Specialised action plans for “AI plus Manufacturing” form a central strand of the industrial strategy. Artificial‑intelligence tools have already penetrated full‑length industrial workflows from research‑and‑design through production, quality inspection and maintenance, while robotic systems are completing practical assignments within manufacturing plants, emergency‑response missions and service‑related work settings. Close to 200 national‑level AI‑related technical standards have already been finalised, and several cities are running practical trials for AI ethical review services.

Work on the supply side will back research into high‑end training chips and multi‑modal algorithms. Frontier avenues including neuromorphic intelligence and world‑modelling technology will receive sustained attention. Iteration will continue for intelligent hardware such as humanoid robots and brain‑computer interface devices, alongside specialised smart machinery for mining operations, agriculture and medical treatment.

For real‑world industrial deployment, public‑sector teams will distil high‑value use‑cases for individual sectors. A fresh development framework will be trialled whereby each industry builds its own application map and each practical scenario maintains dedicated documentation. A dedicated scheme will foster professional application service providers. Deep‑rooted manufacturing experience accumulated over many years will be reorganised into lightweight, low‑cost and readily deployable industry‑specific solutions accessible to businesses of varying scales.

Open‑source artificial‑intelligence communities are set to act as key platforms, supporting the creation of high‑quality open‑source projects tailored for “AI plus Manufacturing”. Dedicated artificial‑intelligence investment funds will channel greater financial resources towards relevant technological ventures. Graded standards covering foundational general‑purpose technologies, industrial deployment and ethical safeguards will continue to be formulated and rolled out.

On matters of safety governance, continuous monitoring for AI‑linked security risks will be paired with information‑sharing and incident response workflows. A dedicated repository for product‑related security vulnerabilities will be maintained. Technical work on deep‑synthesis detection, algorithmic defences and value alignment will proceed, so that artificial‑intelligent systems remain controllable for human purposes.

Across the whole 15th Five‑Year cycle, officials will push forward comprehensive adoption of next‑generation information technologies throughout manufacturing value chains. Parallel action for greener industrial development will promote comprehensive recycling of industrial solid waste, supporting the combined digital‑intelligent and low‑carbon transition of China’s manufacturing base.