Currently, the 15th Five-Year Plan for the development of central enterprises (hereinafter referred to as the Plan) has been officially issued, and the direction for optimizing the layout and adjusting the structure of state-owned assets and central enterprises has become clearer. Among these, in the field of forward-looking strategic emerging industries, greater emphasis is placed on "expanding capacity and improving quality." By 2030, the proportion of added value from strategic emerging industries in central enterprises must increase by another 5 percentage points. This information was learned from the "Starting the 15th Five-Year Plan" series of themed press conferences held by the State Council Information Office on September 28.

Wang Shaofei, spokesperson for the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and director of the Financial Supervision and Operation Evaluation Bureau, introduced that from January to August, central enterprises achieved a cumulative added value of 7.2 trillion yuan and total profits of 1.8 trillion yuan, both maintaining positive growth. As of the end of August, the total assets of central enterprises reached 99.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%, and are expected to reach a new level by the end of this year. The quality of operations has also continued to improve. From January to August, the operating revenue profit margin of central enterprises increased by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year to 7.5%, and the operating cash collection ratio increased by 3 percentage points; net operating cash flow reached 2.2 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.1%.

It is worth noting that the "Six Networks" represent a major deployment at the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council organized central enterprises to plan ahead around the "Six Networks," accelerate the implementation of a batch of major projects and standards, with an annual planned investment of approximately 2 trillion yuan, and all work is currently progressing smoothly.

This report card reflects the clearer high-quality development orientation of state-owned assets and central enterprises during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Pang Xiaogang, spokesperson and deputy director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, stated that the Plan sets quantitative indicators around five aspects: added value, functional value, economic added value, added value of strategic emerging industries, and brand value, promoting value creation as the core driving force for enterprise development. In particular, it highlights added value and downplays scale indicators such as operating revenue, guiding enterprises to truly shift their focus to high-quality development and to enhancing their contribution to the national economy and social development.

Anchored to a series of high-quality development goals, the direction for optimizing the layout and adjusting the structure of central enterprises has also become clearer: in areas related to national security and the lifeblood of the national economy, greater emphasis is placed on "strengthening the foundation"; in forward-looking strategic emerging industries, greater emphasis is placed on "expanding capacity and improving quality"; in public service areas, greater emphasis is placed on "supporting and safeguarding." The Plan clearly states that central enterprises should play a greater role in national defense equipment manufacturing, energy and resource production and supply, and backbone infrastructure construction, guiding enterprises to pay more attention to industrial security and industrial resilience. By 2030, the proportion of added value from strategic emerging industries in central enterprises must increase by another 5 percentage points, further strengthening basic support such as industrial software and key components, taking the lead in promoting artificial intelligence to empower all industries, innovatively developing service-oriented manufacturing, and striving to build emerging pillar industries. It also calls for solidly advancing the construction of the "Six Networks" and increasing investment in public service areas such as producer services, consumer services, and the emergency industry.

Developing new quality productive forces, cultivating emerging industries, and promoting the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation are essential. This year, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council compiled a special 15th Five-Year Plan for scientific and technological innovation for the first time, combining systematic layout, organized scientific research, and strong deployment to promote the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, and accelerate the channel from technological strength to industrial strength, economic strength, and national strength.

In terms of specific measures, on the one hand, efforts are focused on technological output, ensuring stable growth of research investment and resolutely fulfilling the national goal of an average annual growth rate of research and development expenditure exceeding 7 percent. On this basis, efforts will be made to increase the proportion of basic research investment to over 15 percent. On the other hand, efforts are focused on the transformation of achievements, accelerating the conversion of scientific and technological achievements into real productivity through the layout of pilot testing platforms and open scenarios. Data shows that from January to August, the intensity of research and development expenditure of central enterprises increased by 0.1 percentage points year-on-year, and the scale of research and development expenditure reached 591.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.7 percent, and is expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan for the full year, marking the fifth consecutive year that central enterprises have invested over 1 trillion yuan in research and development. At the same time, in the first eight months of this year, investment by central enterprises in strategic emerging industries reached 1.2 trillion yuan.

Zhang Jianlong, director of the Science and Technology Innovation Bureau of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, stated that state-owned assets and central enterprises should take original technology source bases as a starting point, strengthen applied basic research oriented to industrial needs, and consolidate the technological foundation in key areas such as integrated circuits, industrial software, and industrial mother machines. At the same time, in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and brain-computer interfaces, as well as in deep sea, deep space, and deep earth fields, they should strengthen the layout and research and development of cutting-edge technologies.

At present, global technological innovation in artificial intelligence has entered an unprecedented period of activity, the intelligent economy is accelerating development, cross-border integration continues to deepen, and opportunities and challenges coexist. Continue to increase investment in computing power networks, rationally layout and orderly build eco-friendly intelligent computing centers; deepen computing-power coordination and computing-network integration, and accelerate the implementation of more green power direct connection projects; with the industrial sector as the focus of development, continue to build "AI+" industry communities, and accelerate the large-scale implementation of artificial intelligence in production frontlines, especially in core links. Facing the 15th Five-Year Plan, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council has deployed a series of measures directly aimed at "promoting artificial intelligence to take root in the real economy and develop inclusively."