Recently, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a think tank in the United States, released a report stating that its latest 20 month survey on China's innovation capabilities in 10 advanced technology fields shows that China has entered the forefront of global innovation in nuclear energy and electric vehicles; In four fields including artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum technology, we are almost on par with global leaders. Thanks to the dual wheel drive of cost advantages and increasing innovation capabilities, more and more Chinese companies are gaining global recognition. According to a report on the American website Interesting Engineering, these achievements strongly demonstrate that China places far more emphasis on innovation than in the past and has made significant progress in enhancing its innovation capabilities. The continuous strengthening of China's innovation capability is attributed to the science and technology policies formulated by the Chinese government. China's innovation capability is increasing day by day. In the past year, ITIF has conducted in-depth analysis of the innovation capabilities of 44 Chinese companies. These companies cover 10 major fields including robotics, chemical materials, nuclear power, semiconductors, display technology, electric vehicles and batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computers, as well as biopharmaceuticals and machine tools. The report points out that China is at a leading level in the field of nuclear power; Compete with the global advanced level in electric vehicles and batteries; Approaching advanced levels in the fields of robotics, displays, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. The report believes that China has become a global leader in nuclear reactor technology. The number of nuclear reactors developed by China in the past 10 years exceeds the total number deployed by the United States in the past 30 years. China plans to build over 100 new nuclear reactors by 2035. In terms of the ability to deploy fourth generation nuclear reactors on a large scale, China may currently lead the United States by 10 to 15 years. In the field of electric vehicles, electric vehicle batteries produced in China account for 77% of the global total production. China is also the world's largest producer and seller of electric vehicles. Last year, BYD sold 3 million electric vehicles, almost twice the global sales of Tesla. Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are in a leading position in areas such as autonomous driving technology. The report states that quantum technology is not only of great significance to national security, but also has the potential to have transformative effects on the economy and society. In terms of quantum communication, China holds a dominant position globally, as evidenced by the opening of the world's first quantum secure communication backbone network, the "Beijing Shanghai Mainline," and the launch of the "Mozi" satellite; In terms of quantum sensing, China is roughly equivalent to the United States; In the field of quantum computing, although China has a slight gap, it is striving to catch up. The report also shows that in terms of research output in generative AI, China and the United States are on par, each contributing thousands of papers and exploring the infinite possibilities of AI. However, there is still room for improvement in terms of citation frequency of papers in China. Although China's AI ecosystem is rapidly maturing, it still faces significant challenges. In terms of private investment in AI, American companies have attracted more venture capital and launched more groundbreaking AI models. However, as foreign investors (including Saudi Arabia) begin to value the enormous potential of China's AI development, this gap is expected to narrow. The report on technology policies safeguarding innovation points out that China was once considered a follower in the field of innovation, but in recent years, the situation has undergone significant changes. China has become the world's second-largest economy, and the Chinese government and enterprises have increased their investment in high-value technology research and development. The continuous promotion of innovation in China is attributed to the science and technology policies formulated by the Chinese government. According to a report on the Interesting Engineering website, relying on these policies, the Chinese government prioritizes the development of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, strives to build world-class research institutions and industrial technology parks, provides funding, assistance, and tax incentives for scientific research, and encourages public-private partnerships to jointly build an innovation ecosystem. The report further emphasizes that China's technology policies have significantly enhanced its technological innovation capabilities in a short period of time, reaching world-class levels and driving exponential growth in overall research output. For example, in 2012, China published approximately 330000 papers, while the United States published 430000 papers. But by 2016, the number of papers published in China had surged to over 900000, surpassing that of the United States. In addition, the quantity and quality of China's scientific output are improving, as evidenced by the acquisition of a large number of high-quality patents. In 2020, China ranked third in the number of patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), second only to the United States and Japan, indicating a good positive relationship between innovation and development in China. Innovation investment has been transformed into more and higher quality innovation output. The ITIF report on rapid progress catching up with the world's forefront not only acknowledges China's innovation achievements, but also points out that there is still a certain gap between China and the world's advanced level in the fields of chemical engineering, machine tools, semiconductors, and biopharmaceuticals. However, China is rapidly catching up in these areas. The report shows that although China has taken a leading position in chip research and development for devices such as refrigerators and heart rate monitors, there is still a gap in high-quality semiconductor production. In addition, the biopharmaceutical industry in China is beginning to shine, manifested by a significant increase in both the quantity and quality of scientific publications related to biotechnology; The continuous emergence of new drug research and development achievements; The number of clinical trials conducted in China is constantly increasing. The report suggests that although China has not yet become a world innovation leader in certain fields, it is making extremely rapid progress. In the next 10 to 20 years, China is likely to reach or be very close to the global innovation frontier in most advanced industries. In the new wave of innovation, China is likely to become the world's innovation center. (New Society)