The Central Economic Work Conference was held in Beijing from December 10th to 11th. General Secretary Xi Jinping attended the conference and delivered an important speech, summarizing the economic work in 2025, analyzing the current economic situation, and arranging the economic work for 2026, which pointed out the direction for the high-quality development of China’s economy.
All sectors of society in Shenzhen have actively studied and grasped the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference. They have expressed that 2026 marks the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan. It is essential to boost confidence, work in a down-to-earth manner, fully implement the arrangements of the conference, deepen reforms and pursue continuous innovation, so as to propel Shenzhen’s high-quality economic development to a new level. They stressed the need to unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, work together with one heart and forge ahead with perseverance to strive for the achievement of the economic and social development goals and tasks next year. They also vowed to make a good start, write a new chapter of the “Two Great Miracles” on the new journey and create a new situation in advancing the Chinese path to modernization.
Seizing Development Opportunities: Shenzhen Strives to Be a Model
After carefully studying the reports on the conference, Gong Xiaofeng, Distinguished Professor at the Research Center for China Special Economic Zones of Shenzhen University, Doctoral Supervisor, and Director of the Institute for Emerging Industry Development in the Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao Greater Bay Area of Shenzhen University, stated, “The conference clearly proposes to formulate a plan for the integrated advancement of education, science and technology, and talent development, and build international science and technology innovation centers in Beijing (the Beijing – Tianjin – Hebei region), Shanghai (the Yangtze River Delta) and the Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao Greater Bay Area. This is an excellent development opportunity for Shenzhen.”
Gong Xiaofeng noted that Shenzhen will host the APEC meeting in 2026. This will not only be a highlight moment to showcase the achievements of China’s reform and opening-up to the world, but also a golden opportunity for Shenzhen to achieve leapfrog development. Shenzhen must seize this opportunity and take the lead in building the innovation centers in accordance with the central government’s requirements.
He said, “We should strive to form distinctive features and offer forward-looking and replicable Shenzhen solutions, making Shenzhen a model in multiple aspects. It should become a model for the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent; a model for the in-depth integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation; a model for developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions; a model for high-quality development; and a model for a modern industrial system. In particular, it should set an example in promoting the intellectualization, greenization and integration of industries, and constructing a modern industrial system that is comprehensive, advanced, secure and more internationally competitive.”
Sun Lizhi, Executive Principal of Wenbo High School in the High School Park of Shenzhen Senior High School, expressed that he was greatly encouraged by the Central Economic Work Conference’s emphasis on prioritizing people’s livelihood, striving to do more practical things for the people, and increasing the supply of senior high school enrollment quotas and high-quality undergraduate programs. Shenzhen is formulating a new round of senior high school construction plans. While continuously ensuring the supply of enrollment quotas, it will attach greater importance to improving the quality of education, so as to cultivate more talents capable of meeting future needs for the development of Shenzhen and even the whole country.
Boosting Development Confidence: Promoting Consumption Upgrade and Expansion
The Central Economic Work Conference explicitly ranked “adhering to the dominance of domestic demand and building a strong domestic market” as the top priority among the eight key economic tasks for 2026, which highlights the core position of consumption in the current economic structure.
Xie Yongming, Executive President of the Shenzhen Intelligent Retail Association, stated that this reflects the country’s high attention to domestic demand, greatly boosting the confidence in the development of the industry. Meanwhile, the conference revealed new trends in service consumption that require focused attention, pointing out the development direction for enterprises in the consumption sector.
Xie Yongming said that consumption is currently expanding from commodity consumption to service consumption. The conference once again clarified the implementation of a systematic policy framework centered on this new consumption trend. He suggested that enterprises should pay closer attention to the changing trends of new consumption formats, models and scenarios, further explore the changes in demand beyond commodity consumption, and continuously innovate to launch higher-quality products and services, so as to achieve better and high-quality development.
Zheng Tiancheng, Deputy Director of the Enterprise and Market Research Center of the China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute, indicated that the conference has raised the priority of “comprehensively expanding domestic demand”. This reflects that China will take domestic consumption and investment as the main driving forces, reduce its dependence on the external market, and establish a new development paradigm featuring the domestic circulation as the mainstay and the mutual promotion of domestic and international circulations. The conference clearly put forward measures such as formulating and implementing a plan to increase the income of urban and rural residents, expanding the supply of high-quality goods and services, and eliminating unreasonable restrictive measures in the consumption field to unlock the potential of service consumption. These measures are designed to ensure that people have the ability to spend, have channels for consumption, and can consume with confidence.
Increasing Innovation Investment: Accelerating Industrial Upgrading
“The Central Economic Work Conference has brought a positive boost to the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Seeing the country’s clear commitment to further advancing and expanding the ‘AI +’ initiative has made us entrepreneurs at the forefront feel more assured and motivated,” said Zhou Jiahao, Chairman of Shenzhen Shenyuan Artificial Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd., which settled in Guangming Science City this year. “Our independently developed MasterAgent intelligent agent system is intended to bring AI into factories, enterprises and everyone’s daily life. With such favorable policy guidance, we will focus more on the in-depth integration of technological innovation and industrial demands, enabling the ‘AI +’ initiative to yield fruitful results in various industries.”
Liu Shaoshan, Director of the Embodied Intelligence Center at the Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society, stated that Shenzhen boasts a complete industrial chain of software and hardware in the AI and robotics sectors. The institute is actively conducting research on basic theories and original technologies driven by the major needs of the industry. It is also taking the lead in building technological innovation platforms to promote the application and transformation of intelligent technologies. “Next, the institute will continue to build a bridge connecting technological innovation and industrial demands, accelerating innovation-led upgrading of the embodied intelligence industry.”
Duan Jiangye, Founder and CEO of Dimeng Robotics, said, “At the crucial juncture of the upcoming start of the 15th Five-Year Plan, in accordance with the arrangements of the Central Economic Work Conference, we will persist in investing in research and development. Guided by innovation, we will continuously make breakthroughs in the field of tactile perception. This will enable robots to move beyond simply performing repetitive tasks and truly acquire the ability to understand the environment and accomplish complex interactive tasks. This will help Shenzhen gain a competitive edge and enhance its influence in the global embodied intelligence industry.”
Xiao Wenjie, CEO of Lexin, noted that the conference’s arrangements regarding the development of new quality productive forces have pointed out the innovative direction for enterprises. Lexin will continue to increase investment in cutting-edge technologies such as AI agents, promote the in-depth integration of technological innovation and consumption scenarios, empower new consumption with new quality productive forces, and leverage technology to continuously improve the consumption experience and serve the people’s pursuit of a better life.
Zhang Haisheng, Founder and CEO of Seeker Biotech, stated that as a national high-tech enterprise settled in the Shenzhen Section of the Hetao Shenzhen – Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, the company is actively responding to the country’s call through concrete actions. Seeker Biotech is deeply engaged in the field of life and health, and accelerating the research and development as well as industrialization of world-first innovative drugs. “We will not only bravely explore the uncharted territories in science and technology, but also effectively transform innovative achievements into industrial momentum that contributes to the rehabilitation of patients,” Zhang Haisheng said.
Stabilizing Macroeconomic Policies: Enhancing Governance Efficiency
The conference pointed out that in terms of policy orientation for next year’s economic work, efforts should be made to keep making progress while maintaining stability, improve quality and efficiency, give full play to the combined effects of existing and new policies, strengthen counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustments, and enhance the efficiency of macroeconomic governance.
Guo Wanda, Executive Vice President of the China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute, commented, “This indicates that the country’s macroeconomic policies will remain stable, macro-control will be more targeted, and governance efficiency will be improved, all of which are beneficial to Shenzhen’s high-quality development. Shenzhen must fully implement these policies and take on a pivotal role.” He added that Shenzhen needs to more accurately grasp development trends and relevant policies, stabilize private investment, support enterprises in exploring diverse markets while maintaining stable foreign trade, foreign-funded enterprises and foreign investment, further stimulate consumption, and fully utilize innovation-driven development as its core strength. Additionally, it should take the opportunity of hosting the APEC meeting to advance high-level opening-up and elevate the development level in various fields.
You Xuanwen, Deputy Director of the Industrial Development Department of the Administrative Bureau for the Shenzhen Section of the Hetao Shenzhen – Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, stated, “The arrangements of the Central Economic Work Conference fully reflect the country’s great attention to technological innovation and the construction of the Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao Greater Bay Area.” As the only characteristic platform themed on technological innovation in the Greater Bay Area, the zone will take this opportunity to focus on its development orientations: a pilot zone for open cooperation in technological innovation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, a pilot zone for international advanced technological innovation rules, and a central hub for pilot-scale test and transformation in the Greater Bay Area. It will better leverage the combined advantages of Shenzhen and Hong Kong and give full play to its unique role as a platform and channel.
