While at the Summer Davos Forum, Premier Li Keqiang took an inspection tour of Dalian, with a focus on upgrading industry, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Premier Li toured the makerspace in Dalian High-tech Industrial Zone, which is a platform providing comprehensive services for makers.

After learning about makers’ innovative products and their market prospects, the Premier praised their achievements in innovation.

“In order to speed up the implementation of our strategy to boost mass innovation and entrepreneurship in order to drive the economy, we need not only to grasp unique creative ideas and new market demands, but also stick to the craftsman’s spirit, seeking perfection in details and high quality. Only in this way can we develop better products to meet various market demands,” said the Premier.

A company briefed the Premier their practice of using the Internet to connect production with market demand and using collective wisdom to upgrade traditional equipment.

The Premier said, “We need to use Internet Plus to upgrade industry, share economic conceptions to stimulate vitality, connect the creative ideas of millions of people with information technology and promote the close integration of traditional manufacturing with the modern service industry, thus accomplishing the industry upgrade more efficiently and with lower costs.”

Witnessing makers displaying their creative products before potential investors, Premier Li exchanged ideas with the investors. Learning that some of them came from abroad, the Premier said, “Our innovation and entrepreneurship are open”. He further stressed the need to sum up experiences and attract more businesses from other countries to bring in their capital, technology and talents, thus achieving win-win cooperation.

Makers are highly creative talents, and they are passionate about their ideals.

Governments at all levels and the society should implement policies to support entrepreneurship and innovation, push forward reforms such as administrative streamlining and power delegation, and optimize their services.

These moves will foster the “soil and ecology” for entrepreneurship, nurture the seedlings of startups into a vibrant forest, and inject vitality into the economy.

Premier Li visited a plant of DHI DCW Group Co Ltd, a heavy machinery manufacturer in Dalian which has pioneered innovative technologies in heavy equipment. The Premier said that an enterprise’s competitiveness advances at the pace of its innovation.

The manufacturing industry is the key bottleneck that the Chinese economy needs to cross to move to the medium-to-high level, he added.

China’s northeastern region boasts a long history of equipment manufacturing, but it is also faced with great pressure to upgrade the industry. Entrepreneurship and innovation will not only expand the horizons for the development of small and micro-sized enterprises, but also optimize the production and operating modes of large enterprises, the Premier said.

The reform of State-owned enterprises should be combined with entrepreneurship and innovation, the Premier said. As China is pushing forward the Made-in-China 2025 strategy, equipment manufacturers should take the opportunity to transform themselves by boosting intelligent manufacturing and improving their core competitiveness.

The Premier also visited the onshore assembly site of a marine engineering company in the city.

The world economy lacks the vigor for recovery and the global market seems to have withered, the Premier said. Chinese enterprises should take the responsibility and have the guts to explore the global market, which will demonstrate the cost-performance edge of Chinese equipment, elevating their brands into world-renowned names through international production capacity cooperation.

Officials of Liaoning province also reported to the Premier regarding the economic and social development of the province, as well as its accomplishments in equipment manufacturing and tapping overseas markets.

The Premier hoped the province would grasp the new opportunity as policies are in place to comprehensively revitalize Northeast China.

The province should aim for even greater achievements under the New Normal, making stabilized growth, increased employment and improved economic performance its top priorities.