An exhibitor introduces intelligent connected vehicles to visitors at the 8th Digital China Summit Experience Area in Fuzhou, south China’s Fujian Province, on April 28, 2025. Lü Ming 

As the world enters a new era defined by artificial intelligence, green transition, and digital transformation, one reality is becoming increasingly clear: the shapers of the future are those who are leading today in innovation. 

This issue’s Special Report explores how China is positioning innovation as a long-term national strategy driving industrial upgrading, green development, and international cooperation. From Beijing’s innovation ecosystem to the emerging “future city” model in Xiong’an, and from electric vehicles to AI-powered manufacturing, the stories told in these pages reveal how China is turning technological breakthroughs into real-world applications at a remarkable scale. 

At the Summer Davos 2026 in Dalian, “Innovating at Scale” emerged as the main theme of global discussion. As American financial expert James Weaver observes in our cover story, China’s strength lies not only in technological invention, but in its capacity to rapidly commercialize innovation through a combination of strategic planning, competitive markets, industrial ecosystems, and engineering talent. This unique model is reshaping China’s role in the global innovation landscape. 

China’s innovation drive is also deeply connected to the world. According to the experts interviewed in this issue, advances in renewable energy, electric vehicles, digital infrastructure, and smart manufacturing are creating new opportunities for international cooperation and green development. China’s experience demonstrates that innovation today is no longer confined within the national borders of any individual country; it increasingly depends on openness, collaboration, and shared technological progress. 

Whether in the laboratories of Beijing, the experimental urban governance system of Xiong’an, or the rapidly expanding green industries transforming global supply chains, innovation has become more than an engine of economic growth. It is becoming a source of resilience, sustainability, and future competitiveness. 

To invest in innovation is, ultimately, to invest in the future.