Industrial transformation and upgrade:Pay attention to proprietary innovation capability

2018 marked the start of Chinas full completion of the 19th CPC National Congress， the 40th anniversary of Chinas adoption of the policy of reform and opening-up， and a decisive year of the “13th FiveYear” Planning to connect 2017 and usher in 2019. In 2018， the textile industry maintained the medium- and low-speed growth and realized a steady and sound development.

The first half of 2018 witnessed no huge fluctuations in Chinas textile industry from its raw materials to the market. Industrial operation could be described by a word， “steady”. From the perspective of raw materials， the price of cotton， chemical fibers， wool and silk fared smoothly. From the perspective of market， there was a considerable growth in export， and the manufacturing link and economic benefits regained steadiness. Changes in the second half of 2018 were mainly reflected as the influence of Sino-US trade frictions on the industry. Though the influence was not widespread， it was enough to cause a psychological panic in the public， which indirectly impaired the export performance of Chinas apparel market. In October and September， Chinas apparel export was still impressive. In fact， affected by Sino-US trade frictions， many orders strove to be exported abroad to minimize their losses. From November on， the apparel market experienced a negative growth of export again. The overall growth trend in the domestic consumption market made a turn for the better. Under the expectation that Chinas foreign trade would slide， enterprises intensified their expansion of the domestic market. Growth of domestic sales made up the drop in export. Therefore， taken as a whole， Chinas textile industry has maintained a steady and sound development trend.

The Central Committee Economic Work Meeting put forward key tasks， of which high-quality development of the manufacturing industry was first task. The meeting pointed out the necessity of promoting in-depth integration between the advanced manufacturing industry and the modern service industry， and unwavering devotion to building a manufacturing superpower. At the same time， the system of “survival of the fittest” should be steadily implemented among enterprises to boost formation and development of new technologies， new organizational forms and new industrial clusters. The manufacturing industry should be equipped with a stronger innovation capability to build an open， coordinated and efficient common technology R&D; platform. The innovation mechanism integrating the industry， university and research institute with enterprises at the core and oriented towards satisfaction of diverse demands should be further improved. The process of laying out the national labs and reorganizing the national key lab systems should be quickened. More support should be given to SMEs innovational efforts. Intellectual property rights of SMEs should be better protected and utilized to form an efficient innovational incentive mechanism. All these sufficed to show the national governments emphasis on real economy and manufacturing industry. Only when the real economy is developed as a more conspicuous part of the national economy will its expansion and strengthening be possible.

The Central Committee Economic Work Meeting also required further implementation of proactive financial policies and prudent monetary policies， and a larger scale of tax reduction and fee reduction to address the difficulty and expensiveness of financing facing privately-employed enterprises and small-and micro-enterprises. In this way， a fairer institutional environment can be created to accelerate SMEs growth. Additionally， the meeting advocated employment stabilization as a conspicuous part of employment stabilization. In fact， with the popularization of automatic and intelligent processing equipment， fewer and fewer labor forces will be needed. Some small-and mediumsized enterprises have even been shut down， leading to a large-scale layoff. Some of the staff have found a job in large enterprises， while some have shifted to the service industry with a large demand for labor. Therefore， no huge social issues have been resulted therefrom. In the future， as the social migrant population decreases and migrant workers return to their hometowns， the employment situation will be grimmer. Therefore， to promote high-quality development of the manufacturing industry is to seek transformation and upgrade of the textile industry via adjustment of the regional structure and industrial structure. This is not only a requirement of the meeting， but also our requirement of the textile industry.

Regional structural adjustment actually refers to adjustment of the employment structure. We should implement the social policy promulgated by the Central Committee on giving priority to employment. Under the situation that the industrial economy is developing at a mediumand low-speed， the regional structural adjustment will be accelerated with the industry transferring from East China to Central and West China. In this process， new industrial clusters will be generated. In accordance with requirements of the central committee economic work meeting， Chinas textile industry should， in addition to stimulating the original industrial clusters to make improvements， support and cultivate new industrial clusters.

In the process of industrial transformation and upgrade， more attention should be paid to improvement of the industrys proprietary innovation capability. Previously， we mostly introduced technologies from foreign countries and learned these technologies to gain inspirations of innovation. In the future， we should embark on the path of proprietary innovation， because most of our products and technical equipment have reached a worldly-leading level. This makes it possible for us to realize technological innovation on ourselves. On the other hand， it has become increasingly difficult to introduce new-and high-tech fiber and highperformance fiber technologies. This pushes Chinas textile industry to develop new technologies on its own. After a careful investigation of the future development path under the correct industrial positioning， it is found out that proprietary innovation should play a dominant role in the future innovation activities of Chinas textile industry.

The 19th CPC National Congress has included civilian-military integration strategy into the national strength building strategic system for the new era. For a long time， the textile industry has a complete military industrial supporting system. Though military products take up a small percentage in the textile industry， most of them have a high technological content and a high requirement of quality. This is particularly true of weapons， and protective items. Relying on civilian-military integration， enterprises turning out textile products for civilian use can join the military sector to drive improvement of the technological content and quality of textile products. Furthermore， the textile industry will formulate the “Suggestions for Development of the Civilian-Military Integration of Chinas Textile Industry” to more systematically promote civilian-military integration.

2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China， and a critical year for Chinas building of a moderately well-off society， implementation of the “13th Five-Year Program” and development into a textile superpower. In the new year， Chinas economic development will be confronted with a more complex and severe external environment， which means that development of the textile industry will be filled with more uncertainties. Nevertheless， it should be noted that a series of measures issued by the Central Committee Economic Work Meeting has created a favorable development environment for the textile industry. Faced with the new opportunities， textile enterprises should strengthen their microscopic subjective vigor and enhance their ability to tackle market challenges. The China National Textile and Apparel Council will strengthen survey， clarify the industrial situations， correctly grasp the development trends， innovate service models， improve enterprisescapability in the service industry， and work hard for a better future of Chinas textile industry.