The 2025 World Intelligent Manufacturing Conference was recently held at the Nanjing International Convention and Exhibition Center in Jiangsu Province, attracting 452 enterprises from 18 countries and regions such as Germany, the United States, Denmark, and Sweden. The image shows the conference site, with visitors watching robots demonstrate calligraphy. Photo by Fang Dongxu (People's Visual)

In recent rankings released on multiple overseas well-known research platforms, China has ranked among the top in terms of the quantity and quality of scientific research achievements, innovation city clusters, and international cooperation leadership, even frequently topping the list. Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Guy Ryder, described China's current state of scientific and technological innovation as "entering an era of innovation explosion."

The remarkable enhancement of China's scientific and technological innovation efficiency has attracted the attention of the international academic community to "look east." From a clustered ecological system to national strategic investment and the talent dividend, the development path of Chinese science and technology is becoming a key topic for global researchers to focus on.

City Innovation Ecosystems Based on "Clustered" Industry-University-Research Collaboration

Nursing robots deliver medicine, traffic control robots remain steady, and inspection robots carefully check the surrounding environment... At the 2025 World Intelligent Manufacturing Conference in Nanjing, Nanjing robotics companies showcased the practical results of cutting-edge technologies, also outlining a vivid picture of the city's innovative ecosystem.

The latest issue of the British journal Nature, titled "2024 Nature Index - Research Cities," shows that Nanjing and five other Chinese cities have entered the top ten list of global research cities, with Chinese cities occupying more than half of the spots on the list for the first time. Carsten Fink, Chief Economist of the World Intellectual Property Organization, said in a recent interview that China's innovation activities have been outstanding in recent years, and the government's planning, sustained attention, and support for the innovation system have played an important role in this.

Taking Nanjing as an example, the city has positioned itself as an innovation hub through spatial division, enabling the government, enterprises, universities, and capital to jointly promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation; Beijing, which has been the top city in the natural index for nine consecutive years, has built the "three cities and one district" innovation platform and the Zhongguancun innovation core area; Hangzhou, which has entered the top ten list for the first time, has nurtured globally renowned artificial intelligence open-source large models such as DeepSeek, continuously enhancing its original innovation capabilities around five industrial ecosystems including intelligent connectivity and biomedicine, forming a virtuous cycle where "demand drives research, and research benefits industry."

Overseas experts have generally noted that major Chinese cities are actively breaking down the boundaries between academia, industry, and government, forming a closely connected network, accelerating the transformation efficiency from basic research to technical applications through the seamless integration of "industry-university-research"; China's "14th Five-Year Plan" recommendations also include a series of arrangements to promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation.

Data published by the World Intellectual Property Organization confirms that through "clustered" development, China has effectively combined scientific research with industrial application. China has 26 global top 100 innovation clusters, ranking first in the world. The World Intellectual Property Organization's September 2025 Global Innovation Index report also showed that the "Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou" innovation cluster has ranked first globally for the first time.

National Strategic Support with "Real Money"

In the 2025 Nature Index Research Leaders list, China's high-quality research output continues to rank first globally and is still rapidly expanding its lead. According to Simon Baker, editor-in-chief of the Nature Index, the global research landscape is undergoing profound changes, and China's achievements directly result from its continuous investment in research funding.

Experts abroad generally believe that the rise of Chinese science and technology is highly positively correlated with long-term strategic investments at the national level. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China is building an innovation ecosystem, which is enhancing its leading position in the field of science and technology. Christopher Brown, an expert on China at King's College London, said that the Chinese government is not just making verbal commitments but is investing "real money" to implement its goals.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States also stated that China focuses on promoting the development of scientific research and innovation capabilities, continuously investing national resources, strengthening the construction of universities and research institutions, and providing long-term support for R&D in state-owned enterprises. A chart published by the international data website "Capital Visual" shows that between 2007 and 2023, China's R&D investment increased nearly six times, exceeding the European Union and approaching the level of the United States.

Erik Forsberg, representative of the Swedish Research and Higher Education International Cooperation Foundation (STINT) in China and ASEAN, has witnessed China's rapid development in scientific research over the past 20 years. In a research report he wrote for STINT, when ranking universities based on the number of high-impact papers published, China has surpassed the United States, especially in mathematics, computing, and engineering fields.

A paper by the renowned U.S. think tank Brookings Institution pointed out that China has significantly enhanced its international influence through large-scale investments and policy support. In certain technological fields, particularly in some applied technologies, China has already or is about to surpass the United States.

"Young Chinese Scientists Will Drive Progress"

Brown recently wrote an article in the journal Nature, urging the global community to update their understanding of China's rising technological momentum, because the next few decades will largely be shaped by the next generation of Chinese scientists.

"For the past half-century, China's development has mainly relied on the influx of 250 million rural workers into cities, making China the 'world factory.' Looking ahead, the driving force behind China's progress will be young Chinese scientists," Brown pointed out. China has abundant human capital, with 3.6 million graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in 2020. China's Tsinghua University and other universities are among the top-ranked globally.

A report by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology in the United States also confirmed the "scale dividend" of Chinese research talents: since the early 21st century, the number of doctoral graduates in STEM fields in China has consistently exceeded that of the United States. A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies pointed out that China's leading advantage in high-quality research output is further expanding. With its large population and long-term educational investment, China's current number of researchers exceeds the sum of those in the United States and the EU, and its R&D model and investment scale are reshaping the global research competition landscape.

China not only has a large base of researchers but also emphasizes the cultivation of top talents. Li Guoping, director of the Capital Development Institute at Peking University, gave an example: Beijing has 550,000 researchers and nearly half of the country's academicians, with about 43% of top AI talents nationwide. Renowned research institutions such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have implemented open and flexible policies and systems to attract top talents, especially those in basic scientific research.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States found that the number of Chinese scientists taking on leadership roles in international scientific collaborations is rapidly increasing. In the 2025 Highly Cited Researchers awards issued by the multinational data analysis institution Clarivate, approximately one-fifth of the awards were given to researchers from mainland China. The Chinese Academy of Sciences ranked first globally with 258 awards, exceeding Harvard University's 170 awards.

Clarivate analyzed that the significant growth of China's top research talents reflects a "rebalancing" of global top research contributions in geographical and cultural aspects.

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 2, 2025, reporters Ge Chen, Guo Shuang, Tan Jingjing)

Original: toutiao.com/article/7579433971696632347/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author themselves.