Seeking Innovation-driven Development: From the 14th to the 15th Five-Year Plan

Zheng Jianghuai*

1 Yangtze River Delta Socioeconomic Development Research Center, Nanjing University

2 School of Economics, Nanjing University

Abstract: During the 14th Five-Year Plan (FYP) period, China’s innovationdriven development achieved pivotal transition from scale expansion to the dual enhancement of both quality and efficiency. This transition crystallized into a systematic leapfrogging catch-up model grounded in technological complementarity, centered on paradigm leaps, and safeguarded by ecosystem synergy. Technological complementarity has since deepened across different dimensions, thereby fortifying the foundation for optimizing the allocation of innovation resources. Concurrently, broad-based breakthroughs in emerging technological paradigms, most notably artificial intelligence and quantum information, have yielded tangible progress in fostering disruptive innovation. In parallel, the continuous optimization of the innovation ecosystem, driven by institutional refinement, coordinated engagement among diverse stakeholders, and infrastructure upgrades, has provided sustained structural support. Collectively, these developments have significantly bolstered China’s R&D intensity, improved patent quality, and elevated the competitiveness of science and technology clusters. Nonetheless, structural constraints persist, including insufficient autonomy in key core technologies, persistent regional imbalances, incomplete ecosystem coordination, and mounting obstacles to international cooperation. Looking ahead to the 15th FYP period, it is imperative for China to upgrade this systematic model, and by advancing three dimensions in a coordinated manner, China can overcome “chokepoint” bottlenecks, reduce regional disparities, and invigorate innovation dynamics, thereby facilitating a transition from a catch-up phase to frontier-level leadership. Such progress is expected to provide a strong impetus for achieving greater high-level self-reliance and selfstrength in science and technology, and cultivating new quality productive forces thereby contributing to the realization of the national goal of “basically achieving socialist modernization” by 2035.

Keywords: Innovation-driven development; Disruptive innovation; Technological

JEL Classification Codes: O30; O31; O33

DOI: 10.19602/j.chinaeconomist.2026.02.01