Xiconomics: How Chinese innovation drives economic growth at home and abroad

In Brazil, a country also abundant in energy but limited by unequal distribution, a UHV power transmission lane stretching from north to south has significantly met energy needs and enhanced efficiency.

With the help of China, it is delivering electricity to where it is most needed, like an artery of Brazil's economy, bringing benefits to 22 million Brazilians, or 10 percent of the country's population.

"China's cooperation with Brazil in terms of technology and innovation in a variety of sectors has already been helping the development of the Brazilian economy," said Jose Ricardo dos Santos Luz Junior, CEO of Sao Paulo-based company LIDE China.

People-centered approach

During the past decade, the Chinese president has been championing a people-centered development philosophy to meet the people's ever-growing needs for a better life.

Innovation in energy transmission is an example of raising living standards. So too is China's flourishing digital economy.

In southwestern China, Guizhou province was once home to the country's biggest poverty-stricken population.

As China was pooling efforts to digitalize its economy, the province was determined to build a big-data industry utilizing its climate and geographical advantages.

Today, the province is among the regions with the most mega-data centers globally. In 2021, the digital economy contributed about 34 percent to Guizhou's GDP and helped lift 9.23 million people out of poverty.

Developing a digital economy is a strategic choice for grasping the new opportunities in the new round of revolution in science and technology and industrial transformation, Xi said when presiding over a study session of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee last year.

"The philosophy of President Xi Jinping about high-quality development through technology innovation can be already seen in China's move by investing a lot on research and development," Luz said.

In the Global Innovation Index, China moved up in the rankings from 14th in 2020 to 12th in 2021 among 132 economies. Regarding efforts to digitalize its economy, China has ranked second in the world for years, according to statistics from the Global Digital Economy Conference.

Meanwhile, with China's help, many developing countries have had their first taste of success in digital transformation with the development of e-commerce. Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, CEO of Africa's leading fintech platform operator M-Pesa Africa, said that secure, stable and innovative technology provided by Chinese companies has transformed millions of lives in Africa.

"As an example for myself, my family is 550 km from Nairobi. And it meant taking a whole day's journey to go and give my mother money every other time," Lopokoiyit said. The technology "changed it all and has been key in driving financial inclusion across the African continent."

From cooperation on soybean breeding with Thailand to collaboration with Europe on optical fibers, from providing communication services via satellite in Algeria to jointly exploring new perspectives on prevention and treatment of cancer in China's space station, China has been honoring its commitments to promoting common prosperity through cooperation on innovations that change the lives of people, like Massingue and Lopokoiyit.

Following Xi's vision for development featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared growth, China has grown its economy in a way that benefits its people and people around the world.

"These development concepts did not emerge from the ether," Xi said, "they came from the domestic and foreign experience of development, and from analysis of both domestic and foreign trends in development."