China unveils policy document aimed at breaking the wall between lab research, factory floors

China's top authorities released on Wednesday a sweeping policy document aimed at tearing down the wall between laboratory research and factory floors, a move that could redefine how the world's second-largest economy converts scientific breakthroughs into industrial might.

The document, jointly issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, sets out a national roadmap for "deep integration of technological and industrial innovation," framing the fusion as the core pathway to developing "new quality productive forces" — China's term for growth driven by technological breakthroughs rather than traditional inputs.

The policy calls for building an innovation system in which enterprises take the lead, with universities, research institutes and downstream industries working in concert. It also detailed principles such as accurately grasping the new trends and characteristics of the technological revolution and industrial transformation, and strengthening systematic planning and coordinated progress.

Meanwhile, it called for balancing technological supply with demand-driven pull, deploying innovation chains around industrial chains and laying out industrial chains around innovation lines.

According to the document, more efforts will be made to reinforce enterprises' principal role in innovation, improve market mechanisms that incentivize innovation, and channel innovation resources toward enterprises.

China will also unleash innovation vitality through reform, resolutely breaking down ideological and institutional barriers that hinder the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation, the policy added.