China recently released its 13th Five-Year Plan for national strategic new industries, clarifying the future direction in key areas.

Under the new economic norm, strategic new industries will break the restrictions of traditional ones, giving the nation an edge in international competition, said Xue Lan, head of the Public Management School of Tsinghua University.

According to an official from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), with the roll-out of an innovation-driven strategy, China’s strategic new industries will enter the fast lane to drive economic growth.

In the last five years, strategic new industries have already become the backbone of China’s economy with the decline in traditional industries. New technologies, business patterns, and production methods are exerting profound influence on people’s way of life.

In 2016, strategic new industries contributed over 50 percent to Shenzhen’ economic growth, and witnessed a rising share elsewhere in the nation.

The rise of Huawei and Alibaba reflects China’s breakthroughs in several key areas. Meanwhile, the C919 big plane and other milestone achievements also helped the nation enter new frontier fields.

“In general, China’s strategic new industries are still at the development stage, facing a lot of problems and difficulties, despite current achievements,” said Xue Lan.

“We should include the digital creative industry in key industries,” said the official from NDRC. High output value and low energy consumption make it an ideal sector in strategic new industries.

The plan also added strategic new industries in forward-looking layout, involving aviation, information network, biotechnology, nuclear technology, and other core areas concerning the future of mankind.

According to the plan, China’s strategic new industries should go abroad to integrate global innovation resources and take part in world industrial chains through more international platforms.

“We have noticed that the plan urges efforts to raise the share of direct financing for enterprises, support eligible enterprises to get listed, and establish a connection between the national share transfer system and regional equity markets,” said Zhu Haitao, a fund manager.

Meanwhile, the plan also laid out measures to build an industrial innovation system, strengthen intellectual property rights protection, train innovative talent, and increase fiscal support and incentives.

A joint inter-departmental meeting has been set up among NDRC, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, and other departments, for better policy coordination and supervision.

Governments at all levels should streamline administration, and work out new ways to manage the growth of new technologies and patterns, said the NDRC official.