Squeezed from both sides by developed countries leveraging their advantages and emerging economies catching up, China's manufacturing sector—large but not strong—is seeking a breakthrough.

The reporter has learned that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is working with relevant departments to draft the "Made in China 2025" plan, which is expected to be released by mid-next year, drawing a clear roadmap for turning China into a modern industrial powerhouse.

Li Dong, deputy director of the Equipment Industry Department of the MIIT, said yesterday at the "2014 China Beijing International Energy Summit" that the MIIT is working with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance and other departments to formulate the outline of the "Made in China 2025" plan, proposing a "1+10" planning system to develop the equipment manufacturing industry, with particular emphasis on major technical equipment. At present, various ministries and commissions have launched the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Advancement of Major Technical Equipment in the New Era."

Li Dong said that after 30 years of effort, China's major equipment manufacturing has made significant progress and breakthroughs, but the gap with advanced manufacturing countries abroad remains large, most notably in that core technologies for high-end energy equipment are controlled by others.

Li Dong said that the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, driven by the convergence of information technology, biotechnology, new energy technology and others, has set very high requirements for the intelligentization of major technical equipment products, the greening of models, the networking of services, and the diversification of business formats.

Relevant sources also said that the state is expected to continue increasing funding for basic research in key industries. Statistics show that insufficient innovation is closely related to insufficient investment. In 2013, China's R&D investment accounted for 2% of GDP, while industrialized countries all exceed 2.5%, with Sweden, Finland and others even exceeding 3%. Chinese enterprises' R&D investment accounts for only 1% to 1.5% of sales, while foreign enterprises with strong innovation capacity reach 3% to 5%.