1) Entrepreneurship and innovation gained momentum. We published and implemented guidelines on certain policies and measures for promoting entrepreneurship and innovation. The Internet Plus action plan was launched and new forms of business continued to emerge in sectors such as big data and E-commerce. Efforts were stepped up to develop support platforms for crowd innovation, crowdsourcing, crowd support, and crowdfunding, with the number of maker spaces in China exceeding 2,300, the number of institutions for demonstrating technology transfer reaching 453, and the total value of the trade in technology reaching almost one trillion yuan. The state seed fund for investment in emerging industries was set up, the public service platforms for small and medium-sized enterprises in 26 provinces were interconnected, and the first National Week for Entrepreneurship and Innovation was held.
* The six economic corridors include the New Eurasian Continental Bridge, the China-Mongolia-Russia corridor, the China-Central Asia-West Asia corridor, the China-Indochina Peninsula corridor, the China-Pakistan corridor, and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar corridor. The six channels for communications and distribution refer to highways, railways, airlines, waterways, pipelines, and information networks.
Box 7: Innovation-Driven Development
2) The transformation and upgrading of traditional industries were accelerated. The Made in China 2025 strategy and the three-year action plan for enhancing the core competitiveness of our manufacturing industries were launched. We advanced major projects in the manufacturing sector aimed at strengthening core competitiveness, promoting industrial rejuvenation, and encouraging technology upgrading. The Chinese-standard EMU trains for which we hold the intellectual property rights rolled off the production line, breakthroughs in the development of a number of sophisticated modern agricultural machines were made, the National Robot Test and Evaluation Center was established, and smooth progress was made in the demonstration and application of Chinese-brand industrial robots. We set up an investment fund for advanced manufacturing, raising 20 billion yuan in the first round of funding, a portion of which came from private investors.
3) Unremitting efforts were made to address the serious problem of overcapacity. In order to curb the expansion of production capacity, we reviewed and reorganized projects that were in violation of relevant regulations, and strictly forbade the registration and construction of new projects in industries that were already burdened with severe overcapacity. Last year we reduced excess production capacity by 13 million metric tons of iron, 17 million metric tons of steel, 38 million metric tons of cement, 300,000 metric tons of electrolytic aluminum, and 11 million weight cases of plate glass. Efforts were stepped up to help turn the coal industry around.
4) New progress was made in the development of strategic emerging industries. The national program for civil space infrastructure was fully implemented; China' s homegrown large passenger aircraft, the C919, rolled off the production line; and the new regional airliner, the ARJ21, was put into service. The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System was widely used, and sectors such as cloud computing, genetic testing, new-energy vehicles, robotics, and mobile Internet experienced rapid development. A number of industries including integrated circuits, marine engineering equipment, and medical equipment started moving toward the high end.
5) Innovation in and development of the modern service industry were accelerated. We issued guidelines on accelerating the development of consumer services and promoting the upgrading of the consumption structure, further lifted restrictions on market access in the service sector, made solid progress in comprehensive pilot reforms in this area, and advanced smoothly the development of integrated experimental zones for cross-border E-commerce. The value-added of the tertiary industry increased by 8.3% over the previous year.
6) Infrastructure networks were further improved. We pressed ahead with the development of comprehensive transportation systems, with the length of transportation lines open to traffic reaching 4.94 million kilometers. China's energy supply capacity was enhanced and its energy consumption structure was improved, with the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption increasing to 12% of total energy consumption, while coal consumption decreased to account for 64% of total energy consumption. The National Broadband Internet Agenda was further implemented and next-generation information infrastructure continued to improve.
Box 8: Major Infrastructure Construction
4. We promoted coordinated development between urban and rural areas and between regions and sped up the formation of new areas of growth, growth poles, and growth belts. Positive headway was made in the implementation of the Three Initiatives (the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative; the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region; and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt), the development of the four regions (the western, northeastern, central, and eastern regions), and the promotion of the New Urbanization, all of which have made a contribution toward creating new space for development.
1) The blueprint for the Three Initiatives produced tangible results. The Belt and Road Initiative got off to a good start. Steady progress was made in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, with functions non-essential to Beijing's role as the capital being relocated away from the city in an orderly manner and initial breakthroughs being made in the three key areas of transportation, ecological conservation, and industry. Efforts to develop the Yangtze River Economic Belt were stepped up, with the development of the green, ecological corridor beginning to pick up speed and the comprehensive transportation system being gradually improved.
