China Advances Future Industry Layout with Differentiated Development Strategies

On March 22, at the China Development Forum 2026 Annual Meeting, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated its commitment to seizing the times, leveraging its advantages, deepening open cooperation, and accelerating the innovative development of future industries. It emphasized promoting the construction of future industry pilot zones in an orderly manner and guiding regions to develop future industries in light of their own comparative advantages.

China’s future industry layout is shifting from top-level design to concrete implementation. From the prosperous eastern coastal areas to the vast central and western regions, all regions are actively exploring practical models for future industries through distinctive and differentiated paths, forming a vivid pattern of coordinated advancement between a "national integrated plan" and "local characteristic plans".

Regions across the country are developing future industries based on their own strengths. Guangdong Province focuses on key areas to build a future industry development system, setting specific facility goals in low-altitude economy, commercial aerospace and other fields. Guangzhou plans to build 2,500 low-altitude take-off and landing facilities this year, develop more commercial applications and public service scenarios, and promote the integrated innovation and development of the entire industrial chain.

Cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, boasting abundant university talent resources and improved innovative industrial systems, have formed a closely cooperative and efficient ecological system covering the entire chain from basic research and application development to technological R&D, achievement transformation and industrialization. Their sound financial service systems also provide sufficient capital support for innovative projects.

Beijing will focus on six major fields in 2026, promoting higher-quality development of future industries through 122 specific tasks. Shanghai has also put forward measures to precisely cultivate future industries, focusing on areas such as cell and gene therapy, brain-computer interfaces, and embodied intelligence to accelerate product engineering and industrialization.

More central and western provinces, relying on their rich energy and resource endowments, attract capital investment through the "green electricity-green hydrogen-green chemical industry" industrial chain. Inner Mongolia develops green computing power industry relying on the "East Data West Computing" project, while Qingyang in Gansu forms a virtuous transformation chain from energy advantages to computing power and then to industrial advantages through "zero-carbon park" construction.

This differentiated layout effectively avoids redundant construction and resource waste, forming a national innovation network through industrial chain collaboration. It promotes high-quality and sustainable development of future industries by integrating resource endowments, industrial foundations and strategic positioning.