Emerging industries to get greater economic clout

China has pledged to make further efforts to boost the emerging sectors this year as they have contributed more than 30 percent to the country’s economic growth, according to the nation’s top economic regulator.

The government will further encourage high-tech industries and traditional sectors to embrace new technologies, according to Meng Wei, a spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission.

Meng said the government will work with private investors and broaden the financing channels for start ups in emerging fields.

“Industrial innovation has become the most important driver for our economic development,” she said. “It has gained rapid growth and largely supported our economy.”

Industrial innovation has currently contributed over 30 percent to the country’s economic growth and more than 70 percent of new employment for urban residents, according to Meng.

Such efforts have helped industrial upgrading in some provinces that used to rely on smokestack industries, according to Meng.

For instance, Heilongjiang province in the northeastern rustbelt achieved 6.4 percent growth in 2017, up from 6.1 percent in 2016.

E-commerce and tourist industries have become new engines and helped the lagging province to catch up with other developed regions.

Wu Xiaohua, deputy head of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the NDRC, said some new policies can be expected in new business models and cross-industrial integration.

He said consumption will be the next field to embrace those industrial innovations.

“The integration with technology helps with clean coal production and will contribute to more efficient cooperation with targeted investors,” Wu said.

As those who were born in the 1990s and 2000s gradually dominate the markets, technologies to support online and offline platforms will be developed and will forge a new consumption industry.

In the first half of 2017, hightech manufacturing and service sectors grew 13.1 percent and 10.9 percent respectively, compared with 2016. Emerging industries like new-energy cars and industrial robotics also maintained high growth.

“In 15 years, emerging industries will be the main driving force of China’s economic development,” said Gao Huiqing at the National Information Center.