Wu Weihua, vice-chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and chairperson of the Central Committee of the Jiu San Society, conducted a research trip to South China's Guangdong province  focusing on the upgrading of the manufacturing sector through scientific and technological innovation from April 4 to 9.

When visiting local enterprises and research institutions, Wu and other members of the research team held talks with business executives and sci-tech workers about how to scale up basic research, promote the formation of clusters for the manufacturing sector, intensify the roles of manufacturers in sci-tech innovation, and give full play to the fundamental roles of digital transformation in the restructuring and upgrading of relevant industrial chains.

Wu said that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the development of the manufacturing industry and real economy has been placed at a higher priority, and the strategy to build the country into a manufacturing powerhouse bolstered.

To advance the high-quality development of the manufacturing sector and consolidate the foundation of the real economy, he stressed that the country should fully grasp the decisive importance of sci-tech innovation to the manufacturing industry, achieve the restructuring and upgrading of the manufacturing sector through innovation, and integrate technological and industrial innovation into its endeavors to move up the global industrial and value chains.

He also highlighted the need to have a clear understanding of the challenges and complicated issues in relation to the technological innovation-driven high-quality development of the manufacturing sector, be more open-minded, and deepen systematic and institutional reform.

He called for efforts to optimize the ecology of sci-tech innovation and foster a better policy environment and academic atmosphere for sci-tech innovation.

It is important to bolster intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, raise the quality of IPR, and make full use of IPR in the implementation of the new development philosophy, the building of a new development pattern and the realization of high-quality development, he noted.

Shao Hong, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and executive vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the Jiu San Society, also participated in the research.