Innovation will play a key role in China’s economic development in the next five years, and innovation-driven development strategy will be the new engine for economic growth, officials and analysts said.

Premier Li Keqiang noted in an article published in People’s Daily that as China’s economy is stepping into the new normal, the target of maintaining a medium-high-level growth should be met by economic transformation and upgrade.

Under the new normal, low growth with higher quality, China’s economic vigor will be enhanced by innovation, said Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Innovation will be stressed during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) period, and covers almost all sectors, said Chi Fulin, president of the China Institute for Reform and Development.

Innovation development is ranked first among the five principles highlighted in the proposal for the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), as a new tech and industrial revolution is around the corner, according to Li Zhe, head of the Institute of Science and Technology Systems and Management of the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development (CASTED).

Wan Gang, Minister of Science and Technology, said the government will embark on a group of national projects, and build a number of national laboratories with the goal of producing new technologies in the next five years.

Wang Yusheng, former head of the China Science and Technology Museum, said he believed that research in the tech field will lead to breakthroughs in six sectors: fundamental sciences, energy and resources, information network, advanced materials and manufacturing, agriculture, and health.

“Any breakthroughs in the above-mentioned fields will bring about a new-round industrial revolution, and add new vigor to world economic growth,” said Wang.

China debuted the first domestically designed and manufactured airliner, the C919, on Nov 3, signaling a big technological breakthrough, and it will be a catalyst for China’s transformation into an innovation-driven country, according to Wang Yanan, deputy editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge, a well-known magazine on aerospace technology.

Zhongguancun, a tech hub in Beijing, will also actively promote mass innovation and entrepreneurship in the next five years, and push innovation in cutting-edge technologies, business and finance, said Guo Hong, director of the Zhongguancun Science Park Administrative Commission.