A man works on hub product improvement at a leading motorcycle wheel hub manufacturing enterprise in Dianjiang County of Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 28, 2023. Chongqing is one of the important production and export bases of motorcycle parts in China. In recent years, Dianjiang County of Chongqing has guided local leading motorcycle wheel hub production enterprises to rely on scientific and technological innovations to promote industrial upgrading.(Photo: Xinhua)

China's manufacturing development ranks among top tier in the world during the 2020-22 period, showcasing resilience with a stable growth, according to a report released on Thursday. 

Analysts pointed out that China's manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in more than one decade and the country remained the world's largest manufacturer due to its well-developed ecosystem - a strong network of suppliers, manufacturers, and logistics companies. The country's manufacturing ecosystem enables China to remain unmatched in its economic resilience around the world, especially during the pandemic.

According to the 2023 China Manufacturing Power Development Index Report, released by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) on Thursday, the average annual growth rate of China's manufacturing power development index exceeded 4 points during the 2020-22 period. China, with an index reading of above 120 - a globally high level - ranked among major countries, and alongside the US.

The index reflects the development level of a country's manufacturing industry, as it takes into account criteria including the scale of development, quality and benefit, structural optimization and sustainable development, the CAE said.

Also on Thursday, CAE published the Green Paper on Technological Innovation in Key Areas of China's Manufacturing and Technology Roadmap (2023), analyzing and forecasting the development direction of China's manufacturing in the next few years.

The index report and the green paper have been released by the CAE since 2015, in a bid to provide reference and guidance for promoting new industrialization and building China into a strong manufacturing power.

The green paper revealed the progresses of 16 key areas, including the new-generation information technology industry, high-end computer numerical control (CNC) machine, robot, energy saving and new-energy vehicle (NEV).

It is estimated that by 2025, China's eight industries flagged for prioritized development - information and communication equipment, advanced rail transit equipment, power generation equipment, transmission and distribution equipment, photovoltaic power generation equipment, NEVs, textiles, and household appliances - will enter the world's leading ranks and become the leaders of global technological innovation, the paper noted.

By 2030, aerospace equipment, aircraft, high-end CNC machines and basic manufacturing equipment, robots, engineering machinery and biomedicine industries will enter the world's advanced ranks.

However, there is still a gap compared with world powers in basic and industrial software, high-performance medical devices, agricultural equipment and instruments, the paper said.

Therefore, China is increasing efforts to achieve industrial upgrade - through technological innovation - to further empower its manufacturing sector, economic development and better secure global supply chains, analysts said.

The annual Central Economic Work Conference held in mid-December also put scientific and technological innovation at the first place among the priorities in nine aspects.

China will promote the deep integration of basic manufacturing techniques with quality management, digital intelligence and network technologies, and improve the agility and preciseness of production and manufacturing, Zhang Xiaorong, director of the Beijing-based Cutting-Edge Technology Research Institute, told the Global Times.

"The country will support the engineering development of general basic software, industrial software, platform software and application software to achieve key technological breakthroughs in improving industrial quality analysis and control," Zhang said.

In fact, the transformation and upgrading of high-end, intelligent and green manufacturing is becoming driving force for the growth of the sector and technological innovation has boosted and empowered the development of various industries. 

Zhu Jingjin, president of the Biological Products Division at Sinopharm, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that the rapid development of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, 5G, and the Internet of Things has brought unprecedented changes to the industrial development of biopharmacy, and some of the impacts are even subversive.

"For enterprises, digital transformation and technological innovation are inevitable trends, and we must seize the opportunity of intelligent development. This is crucial for our biomedical industry to catch up or to be at the forefront of innovation globally," Zhu said.