2026 Future Industry "Roadmap": These Ten Tracks Are the Focus

On March 26, 2026, the “Future Industry Innovation Development Forum” was held in Beijing as part of the Zhongguancun Forum Annual Meeting.

Ke Jixin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated at the forum that the next step will focus on the overall situation of future industry development, grasp the laws of future industry development, accelerate coordinated policy implementation, fine-tune methods and pathways, and promote higher quality development of future industries. Meanwhile, the key priorities for this year’s annual work arrangements for future industries “have already been arranged.” Among them, “adapting to local conditions and developing in a differentiated manner” is a major focus.

Chen Yancheng, Deputy Director of the High-Tech Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, introduced that future industries must be scientifically planned in a coordinated manner. It is essential to adhere to adapting to local conditions and differentiated development, improve the technology foresight and prediction mechanism, and conduct tiered layouts based on technology maturity, guiding various regions to leverage their resource endowments, identify leading directions, and orderly promote the construction of future industry pilot zones.

Additionally, the key tracks for future industries in our country are becoming increasingly clear. This year’s government work report outlined plans for future energy, quantum technology, and other future industries, and the forum further announced the top ten tracks for future industries in 2026, which are humanoid robots/embodied intelligence, biomanufacturing, brain-computer interfaces, cell and gene therapy, low-altitude equipment, nuclear fusion energy, autonomous intelligent entities, high-level autonomous driving, satellite internet, and quantum computing.

The “Future Industry Innovation Development Forum” was held in Beijing. Photo by reporter Ran Lili.

Adapting to Local Conditions and Differentiated Development is Key

The development of future industries is receiving significant attention. The 14th Five-Year Plan clearly states that it aims to focus on leading key areas of future development, build a comprehensive cultivation system for future industries, and promote quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, sixth-generation mobile communication, and others as new economic growth points. This year’s government work report also proposed nurturing and expanding emerging industries and future industries.

Local governments are actively responding. Chen Yancheng reported that currently, 19 provinces and cities have released nearly 30 documents on future industry policies, and regions such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have established more than 60 provincial-level future industry pilot zones, focusing on key areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, biomanufacturing, and 6G.

Looking to the future, the deployment of future industries emphasizes “adapting to local conditions and differentiated development.”

Ke Jixin introduced that the next step will focus on the overall situation of future industry development, grasp the laws of future industry development, accelerate coordinated policy implementation, fine-tune methods and pathways, and promote higher quality development of future industries. Looking ahead to 2026, Ke Jixin mentioned that this year’s annual work arrangements for future industries “have already been arranged.”

Specifically, Chen Yancheng mentioned that in the next step, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will coordinate efforts to focus on five major areas of work, starting with strengthening overall planning and forward-looking layouts. “Future industries must be scientifically planned in a coordinated manner, and we must adhere to adapting to local conditions and differentiated development. We will improve the technology foresight and prediction mechanism, conduct tiered layouts based on technology maturity, guide various regions to leverage their resource endowments, identify leading directions, and orderly promote the construction of future industry pilot zones.”

Since the beginning of this year, the central level has repeatedly emphasized “adapting to local conditions and differentiated development.”

On January 30, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party held its 24th collective study on forward-looking layouts and the development of future industries, emphasizing that future industries must comprehensively consider national strategic needs, technology maturity, supporting conditions, and other factors, adapting to local conditions and developing in a differentiated manner.

Recently, Li Lecheng, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, publicly stated that the ministry will strengthen planning guidance, improve technology foresight mechanisms, coordinate and orderly promote the construction of future industry pilot zones, and guide various regions to leverage their comparative advantages, adapting to local conditions and developing future industries in a differentiated manner.

An industry expert told the 21st Century Economic Report that the continuous statements from the central level indicate that the layout of future industries is shifting from principle advocacy to method constraints. Future industries are no longer suitable for relying solely on local enthusiasm for spontaneous expansion, nor should traditional招商模式 be used for flat expansion.

The expert pointed out that the greatest deviation that needs to be prevented in future industry layouts is the different names of tracks and overlapping supporting functions. The truly valuable differentiation should manifest in functional division. Some cities are suitable for original innovation and early verification functions from 0 to 1, some cities are suitable for pilot-scale amplification, standard verification, and engineering debut functions, some cities are suitable for large-scale scenario applications, first purchases, and supply chain support functions, and some cities are suitable for patient capital, professional services, and regulatory pilot functions. The core task of pilot zones should be to become specialized nodes within the national innovation network, rather than exhibition halls for tracks.

Regarding other key areas of work to be carried out, Chen Yancheng stated that strengthening the technological supply for future industries will involve in-depth implementation of national major science and technology projects, promoting breakthroughs in future energy, 6G, quantum technology, biomanufacturing, and other fields, and carrying out large-scale application demonstrations of new technologies, new products, and new scenarios; fully leveraging the role of enterprises; optimizing the ecosystem of future industries, establishing and improving the policy system for cultivating future industries, leveraging the role of government investment funds, and increasing financial support; and improving the governance system for future industries, actively exploring regulatory models suited to the characteristics of future industries, while ensuring safety bottom lines, allowing space for technological innovation, and deepening international cooperation.

Top Ten Tracks for Future Industries Announced

Regarding future industries, this year’s government work report proposed establishing a mechanism for increasing investment and sharing risks for future industries, nurturing and developing future energy, quantum technology, biomanufacturing, embodied intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, and 6G among other sectors.

Currently, the key tracks for future industries in our country are becoming increasingly clear.

Zhu Keli, founding dean of the National Research Institute for New Economy, told the 21st Century Economic Report that the relevant deployments for future industries send a key signal that the development of new productive forces is transitioning from conceptual warming to practical breakthroughs. This future industry list targets the high ground of the next round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. Fields such as quantum technology and brain-computer interfaces are core tracks that will determine future national competitiveness.

“Through the deployment of a list, our country is actively shaping the rules and direction of global technological competition, transforming its super-large-scale market advantages and complete industrial system advantages into first-mover advantages for future industry development,” Zhu Keli stated.

At the Future Industry Innovation Development Forum, the top ten tracks for future industries in 2026 were further announced, which are humanoid robots/embodied intelligence, biomanufacturing, brain-computer interfaces, cell and gene therapy, low-altitude equipment, nuclear fusion energy, autonomous intelligent entities, high-level autonomous driving, satellite internet, and quantum computing.

Zhu Min, Vice President of the China Electronic Information Industry Development Research Institute, introduced at the forum that several tracks among the top ten are expected to reach a market scale of trillions of yuan. Among them, for humanoid robots/embodied intelligence, predictions indicate that by 2035, global market demand will reach a scale of trillions of yuan. According to estimates from institutions such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, the global embodied intelligence market is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 73% over the next five years, reaching 238.8 billion yuan by 2030. In biomanufacturing, it is predicted that by 2050, global biomanufacturing could create 30 trillion dollars in economic value, accounting for one-third of global manufacturing.

Additionally, some tracks are continuously expanding. Zhu Min reported that in the field of cell and gene therapy, predictions from multiple institutions suggest that the future CGT market will maintain a rapid growth rate of 20%. In nuclear fusion energy, the Fusion Industry Association’s “2025 Global Fusion Industry Report” shows that global fusion industry investment soared from 1.9 billion dollars in 2021 to 9.766 billion dollars, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 50%. In quantum computing, the global compound annual growth rate is expected to exceed 30% over the next decade, with projections of breaking 100 billion dollars by 2035.

Some industries are accelerating into a new stage of development.

Taking high-level autonomous driving as an example, Zhu Min mentioned that in the past year, both the United States and China have made breakthrough developments in autonomous driving, with classic successful cases emerging. “We believe that autonomous taxi services are about to enter a year of commercial explosion, and within autonomous driving, end-to-end architecture will become the mainstream technical pathway.”

Additionally, Zhu Min pointed out that satellite internet is a trillion-yuan-level communication infrastructure track. With the large-scale launch and deployment of low-earth orbit satellite constellations, the industry is transitioning from the stage of technology verification to the stage of commercial realization. In the field of cell and gene therapy, three core technological pathways are continuously iterating and breaking through, including cell therapy, stem cell therapy, and gene therapy. By 2026, it is expected that stem cells and regenerative medicine will transition from concept verification to global clinical explosion.