Outlook | Hubei "Two-Creation Integration" Develops New Quality Productive Forces

“Smart Transformation” Strengthens the Foundation of Original Innovation, “Systemic Change” Breaks Through Obstacles in Achieving Results, “Qualitative Change” Elevates Industry Capabilities

Text | Weekly News Magazine “Liǎowàng” Reporters Hou Wenkun and Song Likun

Hubei, positioning itself around the strategic goal of “what the country needs and what Hubei can do,” focuses on the integration of technological and industrial innovation—“dual creation.” Through “Smart Transformation” to solidify the foundation of original innovation, “Systemic Change” to unblock obstacles in result transformation, and “Qualitative Change” to achieve leapfrog development of industry levels, Hubei has charted a unique path of efficiently transforming the “mineral deposits” of science and education into a “gold mine” for development.

At the Lantu Auto assembly plant in Wuhan’s Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, workers operate on the assembly line (Photo taken April 24, 2024). Du Zixuan / This publication

Smart Transformation as the Source of Innovation Ecosystem

Hubei systematically tackles the challenges of “from 0 to 1” innovation through three key measures: building high-level platforms, reforming research funding mechanisms, and supporting non-consensus projects. This creates a core technological engine supporting new quality productivity.

Focusing on national strategic needs and core industry pain points, Hubei has established a layered innovation matrix comprising “1 national laboratory + 8 major scientific facilities + 45 national key laboratories + 164 national innovation platforms + 10 Hubei laboratories + 547 new R&D institutions,” with both the number of national key laboratories and new R&D institutions ranking among the top nationwide.

On November 24, 2025, the 1 km high-speed magnetic levitation test line at East Lake Laboratory in Hubei successfully accelerated a 1.1-ton test vehicle to 800 km/h, setting a world record for similar platforms. From the initial demonstration of 650 km/h in June 2025, to 700 km/h in July, and surpassing 800 km/h in November, the team achieved a three-level leap within five months, followed by a month of stability testing confirming all indicators met design requirements.

Once officially accepted, this platform will become an open, shared public testing site capable of atmospheric aerodynamic testing, speed calibration, overload impact testing, and more, providing critical technological support for next-generation high-speed magnetic levitation rail transit, ultra-high-speed electromagnetic sleds, space electromagnetic launch systems, low-altitude economy, and other frontier fields.

Ten laboratories in Hubei, as the core carriers of original innovation, have gathered 66 academicians and 3,547 scientific researchers, undertaken 26 major scientific projects, incubated 45 enterprises, and achieved global leadership in fields such as compound semiconductors and biological breeding. In 2025, over 30 major scientific achievements will be released, including the East Lake Laboratory’s integrated power system for new energy ships, Longzhong Laboratory’s high-performance boron carbide ceramic focusing ring for chip etching, and Luojia Laboratory’s “Oriental Wisdom Eye” integrated earth-space intelligent remote sensing satellite system.

Basic research features long cycles, high risks, and strong spillover effects, making traditional investment models insufficient for sustained innovation. Hubei has reformed its investment mechanisms through “government guidance and diversified participation,” achieving a leap in basic research funding: total social R&D expenditure increased by 53% from the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan, and basic research investment grew by 121.48%, accounting for 6.56% of R&D spending; full-time equivalent R&D personnel increased from 192,200 to 327,300, a 70.3% rise.

In February 2026, Hubei officially launched a pilot selection for non-consensus projects under the provincial Natural Science Foundation, adopting an unconventional “expert committee + invited experts” questioning and voting model. The first batch of 31 frontier exploration projects was reviewed, with 25 approved. These projects focus on innovative directions lacking widespread industry consensus and with disruptive potential, encouraging researchers to challenge “uncharted territory.”

Wang Xinye, Deputy Director of the Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology, stated: “We are establishing a multi-level non-consensus project selection mechanism, providing stable support for pilot projects, and adding non-consensus innovation recognition to other provincial fund projects, ensuring a safety net for researchers daring to tackle ‘hard bones’ and explore ‘uncharted waters.’”

At the Hubei Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, data collectors operate humanoid robots for ultra-market scenario data collection (Photo taken December 4, 2025). Xiao Yijiu / This publication

Systemic Change Empowers Breakthroughs in Result Transformation “Death Valley”

In the process of moving scientific and technological achievements from labs to industry, four major pain points are common: “cannot transfer, unwilling to transfer, slow transfer, and fear of transfer.” Hubei has innovated systematically, building a comprehensive, all-element, all-cycle result transformation support system, bridging the gap between “bookshelf” and “shelf.”

Some universities and research institutes in Hubei have implemented reforms of “empowerment + profit-sharing” to fundamentally motivate researchers’ enthusiasm for result transfer. As a pilot university for the national “grant ownership or long-term use rights of scientific and technological achievements to researchers,” Hubei University of Technology, under specific guidance from the Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology, has launched a reform “combo”: unifying rights for achievements outside negative lists, sharing ownership or long-term use rights between researchers and the university to solve “cannot transfer” issues; fixing the transfer license revenue share at 4%, with 96% going to the research team, breaking the “unwilling to transfer” barrier; managing achievement assets separately, removing pre-approval for transfer, shortening transfer procedures to enable “fast transfer”; establishing due diligence and compliance exemption systems to eliminate transfer fears; forming a dedicated team of 25 technical managers, and by 2025, establishing specialized technical positions for technology transfer across the province, integrating them into institutional staffing; promoting a “transfer first, then revenue” model, allowing small and medium enterprises to pay transfer fees after realizing benefits, easing their capital pressure.

Hu Xinbin, Director of the Science and Technology Development Research Institute at the university, told reporters that under a series of policies, the efficiency of achievement transfer has leapt forward: over four years, more than 3,000 achievements have been transferred, with a contract value of 1.18 billion yuan—exceeding the total of the previous 20 years; the average transfer cycle shortened by 30%. The university has established deep cooperation with over 3,000 enterprises in Hubei, built 16 industrial technology research institutes, 79 joint innovation centers with enterprises and universities, and set up 7 pilot and maturation platforms.

Hubei integrates education, science and technology, and talent development, coordinating reforms in scientific talent evaluation, open innovation environments, and science and finance policies. It has established a consistent review mechanism for science and technology innovation policies, completed the review and evaluation of 204 current provincial policies related to science and technology, and cleaned up 144 policies, creating a foundational institutional framework to support innovation.

Simultaneously, Hubei continuously improves the “Beidou Seven Stars” model of results transformation involving government, industry, academia, research, finance, services, and application. It has strengthened the National Technology Transfer Center in Central China, and built platforms for proof-of-concept, pilot and maturation, scenario innovation, and enterprise incubation, refining a relay-style mechanism for tackling cutting-edge technologies, fostering a “tropical rainforest” style of scientific and technological innovation ecosystem.

Traditional financial models, heavy on assets and collateral, are ill-suited for high-growth, asset-light tech enterprises. Hubei has innovated in science and technology financial products, creating a financing service system covering the entire lifecycle of enterprises, transforming knowledge stock into capital flow.

It has set up seed funds for university tech transfer, regional sci-tech innovation funds, and key industry-specific funds, focusing on early-stage hard tech projects; launched innovative products like credit loans based on innovation points, talent loans, and knowledge value credit loans—no physical collateral needed, only relying on patents, R&D investment, and talent teams; cumulatively issuing over 200 billion yuan in loans to tech enterprises, serving more than 40,000 companies (times). By 2025, the number of high-tech enterprises in Hubei is expected to reach 35,000, and small and medium tech enterprises to reach 50,000.

Wuhan Zhongke Ruize Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd., a company with over 80 patents in optoelectronic products, faced surging demand for optical modules driven by AI, needing funds to expand production and recruit high-end talent but lacked collateral like factory equipment. Hankou Bank used the “Knowledge Value Credit Loan” product, assessing the company’s patents and PhD team comprehensively, providing 10 million yuan in pure credit without collateral, processed entirely online, with funds available within three days—helping the company seize market opportunities.

Feng Yanfei, Director of the Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology, said: “By restructuring innovation policies, reshaping innovation platforms, creating an innovative atmosphere, and strengthening services, we promote the deep integration of innovation chains, industrial chains, capital chains, and talent chains, laying a solid institutional foundation for ‘dual creation’ integration.”

Qualitative Change Elevates to Build a Modern Industrial System

The advantages of science and education resources must ultimately translate into industrial development strengths. Hubei leverages the “51020” advanced manufacturing industry cluster, the “61020” scientific and technological innovation achievement system, and the “71020” university discipline innovation system to precisely connect innovation chains with industrial chains, achieving a leap from a science and education powerhouse to an industrial powerhouse.

Focusing on frontier fields such as humanoid robots, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and quantum information, Hubei accelerates the industrialization of lab results, cultivating new growth points and seizing future industry commanding heights.

In just two months after opening, Wuhan’s first humanoid robot 7S store attracted 18,000 visitors and generated 615,000 yuan in revenue, becoming a city hotspot. Over 80% of hardware in 17 humanoid robot models comes from local supply chains, including AI chips, joint motors, sensors, and other core components.

Currently, nine companies like Ge Lanruo produce complete humanoid robots, with nearly a thousand related enterprises forming a healthy cycle of “demand-driven production and application support.” Professor Li Miao of Wuhan University and his team are speeding up mass production of the “Tianwen” series humanoid robots, with four automated assembly lines expected to produce 1,500 units annually, mainly for service scenarios like catering and retail.

In the field of integrated circuits, four core devices developed in Hubei fill domestic gaps; five advanced materials have achieved domestic substitution; two foundational software breakthroughs address “bottleneck” technologies. Technologies such as storage chips, electromagnetic catapults, cardiac rotation cutting, and “rice-based blood production” have reached global leading levels; cutting-edge tech like brain-machine interfaces, new hollow-core optical fibers, and atomic quantum computers are accelerating toward industrialization.

Through industry chain investment attraction and cluster development, Hubei promotes rapid growth of emerging industries, creating new engines for economic growth. By 2025, four industries with 500-billion-yuan scale—such as software and R&D design—and four with 100-billion-yuan scale, like Beidou applications, will emerge; industries like humanoid robots and AI will maintain over 20% high-speed growth; four national strategic emerging industry clusters and 16 national innovative industry clusters will rank among the top nationwide.

Using technological transformation as a driver, Hubei pushes traditional industries toward high-end, intelligent, and green development, achieving stock renewal and upgrading. By 2025, vehicle production will reach 1.836 million units, including 820,000 new energy vehicles, with a growth rate of 43.9%; 97 national green factories will be newly established—setting a record; resource recycling capacity for scrap steel and batteries ranks among the top nationally; 4,082 technical renovation projects will be rolled out, accelerating industry toward mid-to-high-end.

Through relentless exploration, Hubei’s “dual creation” integrated development of new quality productivity has achieved solid results: by 2025, the province’s total economic output will stabilize at 6 trillion yuan, with five pillar industries—optoelectronics, automotive manufacturing, and services—reaching trillion-yuan scales; high-tech manufacturing value-added will account for 17.4% of above-scale industrial output, contributing 35.6% to industrial growth, steadily increasing its contribution to economic development.

From the roaring test vehicles at East Lake Laboratory, to the busy figures of technical managers, and the crowds at humanoid robot 7S stores, Hubei is harnessing “Smart Transformation,” empowering “Systemic Change,” and releasing “Qualitative Change,” accelerating its role as a key strategic pivot in central China, writing a new chapter of Jingchu’s modernization in the Chinese path.■