Guest Lecture Title: Innovation Drives Quality: China’s Inevitable Path Forward

Abstract

This lecture examines the imperative of shifting toward an innovation-driven development model as the core engine for China’s high-quality growth. It first analyzes the necessity of this transition from four interconnected perspectives: the fundamental shift in growth momentum from factor-input dependence to productivity-led advancement; the urgent transformation of the development mode from scale-and-speed orientation to sustainability, efficiency, and equity; the profound changes in domestic conditions, including demographic transitions and resource-ecological constraints; and, crucially, the complex and severe international environment, characterized by intensifying strategic competition—particularly in technology with the United States—supply chain restructuring, and a race for technological supremacy and standard-setting. These dynamics collectively render innovation the central, inevitable strategy for sustaining national progress.The discussion then outlines the multidimensional pathway to achieving innovation-driven high-quality development. This involves building a robust science and technology innovation system; attracting and pooling international talent; refining the industrial ecosystem; deepening institutional reforms; and advancing high-level opening-up to integrate global innovation networks.

Short Bio

Dr. Yiqing Xie is an associate research professor at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences as well as, at Fudan University’s Financial Research Center, after having held positions at Fudan University’s School of Economics and the University of North Dakota’s business school. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and her areas of expertise include finance, international trade and developmental economics. Among others, she specializes in China’s inward and outward foreign direct investments and in analyzing the firm-level characteristics of international trade. She has published numerous academic papers on international economics in core social science journals both in China and abroad. In addition to academic research, Dr. Xie has also led multiple projects and research initiatives for government and non-profit organizations, translating research methodologies into practical solutions for societal issues and government policy decisions.