Editor's note: The article is part of CGTN's series called "A New Vision for China's Economic Future", in which global economists and eminent academics share their personal views and insights on China's economic development. The author is the Researcher and Deputy Director of the Institute of Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping points out in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, China must "continue to focus on the real economy", and will "advance new industrialization and move faster to boost China's strength in manufacturing, product quality, aerospace, transportation, cyberspace, and digital development". As the foundation of the national economy, the real economy directly reflects a country's social productive force, while functioning as the basis for its comprehensive national strength. President Xi reiterated the need to focus on the real economy at a critical time when China embarks on a new journey to build a modern country and marches towards the Second Centenary Goal, reflecting the CPC's firm confidence in seeking progress while ensuring stable development, and its undisturbed calmness in tackling the current complexities.

As the economic activity that directly creates social wealth, the real economy is the fundamental part of the modern industrial system. As the main part and the core part of the real economy, the manufacturing industry plays a fundamental, dominant and guiding role. To develop the real economy, it is essential to focus on its key area, that is, the manufacturing industry. Only by building a solid foundation of the real economy, can we ensure that the economy grows at a stable and relatively rapid pace. Ensuring the high-quality development of the real economy is the path that needs to be taken to build a manufacturing powerhouse. During this process, we must adhere to the principle that science and technology are the first productive force, talent is the first resource, and innovation is the first driving force, and continue to empower the real economy with sci-tech innovation, hence solidifying the very foundation on which one country can survive and thrive.

China has already become the world's largest industrial country, with the most comprehensive industrial system. Yet the immense economic scale fails to come with a befitting economic strength, with many companies lacking core technology. All this has placed the country at a disadvantage in international competition. In order to improve the quality of the supply system and bolster the real economy, it is essential to further implement the innovation-driven development strategy, promote the innovation of technology, industries, companies, markets, products, business models, management, etc., and accelerate the formation of an innovation-led and innovation-backed economy and development model.

First, strengthening basic research and incentivizing self-dependent innovation. It is a must to beef up support for cutting-edge, forward-looking, and leading sci-tech innovation in basic research, speed up the transformation of new technologies into real productive forces, strengthen brand-building and intellectual property rights protection for new technology products, create a fair, open and transparent competition environment for all market players, and establish an incentive mechanism that encourages companies' self-dependent innovation.

Second, promoting the real economy's deep integration with the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence. We should grasp the latest trends of the new round of technological revolution and industrial change, accelerate the integration of the new generation information technology with the manufacturing industry, implement the manufacturing powerhouse strategy, fast-track the development of intelligent manufacturing, promote the integration of the manufacturing industry and the services industry, and push for the prosperous development of new technologies, new industries, new business models,  providing a continuous endogenous momentum for the sustainable and healthy development of the real economy.

Third, leveraging the new national system to focus efforts on resolving stranglehold problems. We should give full play to the market's decisive role in resource allocation, and to the advantage of our system, which is able to concentrate strength for major undertakings. It is essential to organize advantageous innovation resources at all levels, promote the industry-university-research integration, and seek breakthroughs with focused efforts in some generic technologies, key technologies and core technologies, forming a strong synergy that pushes forward independent innovation.

Fourth, optimizing the innovation ecosystem and unleashing business vitality. It is essential to ensure all market players' equal use of production factors, fair participation in market competition, and equal protection of the law, create a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment, strengthen anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition efforts, crack down on intellectual property rights infringement, raise the cost of infringement, ensure a fair and efficient market mechanism, and support entrepreneurs to capture profit opportunities, innovate business models and engage in economic activities. In the meantime, we also need to further reform the financial system, enhance the financial sector's capacity to serve the real economy, guide more capital into the real economy, and give better play to the financial industry's key role in promoting industrial transformation and upgrading. At the same time, it is necessary to leverage large companies' guiding, supporting and coordinating role, as well as to support small and medium-sized companies' drive to grow as a key source of innovation. We also need to develop emerging industrial clusters, and promote integrated innovation among upstream, midstream, and downstream companies, as well as among large, medium and small enterprises.