(Yicai) Aug. 26 -- China will accelerate the development of emerging industries, including next-generation information technology, new energy, robotics, and biomedicine, and build a number of them into pillar industries to foster new drivers of economic growth, according to the country’s industry and information technology ministry.

The initiative will focus on scaling up emerging industries and strengthening their role in China’s industrial system, Yao Jun, director-general of the ministry’s planning department, said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office today.

The ministry will target strategic areas and weak links in industrial and supply chains and take extraordinary measures to achieve decisive breakthroughs in key and core technologies across integrated circuits, industrial machine tools, high-end instruments and meters, foundational and industrial software, advanced materials, and biomanufacturing, Yao said.

It will also establish benchmark projects in key emerging sectors, including next-generation IT, new energy, new materials, smart connected new energy vehicles, robotics, biomedicine, high-end equipment, and aerospace.

The ministry will further advance major technological equipment breakthroughs and industrial foundation reconstruction projects and promote large-scale demonstration applications of new technologies, products, and scenarios in manufacturing. It will accelerate the development of major application scenarios for “5G+,” “Artificial Intelligence+,” “Robotics+,” “Industrial Internet+,” and “BeiDou+,” which refer to integrating these technologies with other industries and applications.

It will also promote the testing, validation, and iterative upgrading of innovations in real-world scenarios to accelerate their commercialization and large-scale application.

Editor: Emmi Laine