Further efforts are expected to spearhead east-west regional technological collaboration to propel innovation in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, to forge new avenues for the region's high-quality development, said an official during the two sessions.

Wang Wei, a deputy to the National People's Congress, also head of the Science and Technology Department of Ningxia, told China Daily that the region is prioritizing the development of several key sectors, including modern coal chemical industry, new materials, and clean energy, to foster new quality productive forces and nurture new growth points.

First introduced in 2023, new quality productive forces refer to advanced productivity featuring high-tech, high efficiency and high quality, different from the traditional economic growth mode and productivity development paths.

"Technological innovation is the key driver for Ningxia's development of new quality productive forces. The region will step up efforts strengthening key technological advancements, expediting the integration of scientific breakthroughs into practical applications, streamlining research and development management processes, and propel the transformation and modernization of traditional industries while fostering the development of emerging sectors," he said.

However, Ningxia, a relatively underdeveloped region, still faces its greatest challenges in terms of weak innovation capabilities, inadequate innovation resources, insufficient innovative talent, and a lack of innovation vitality, Wang noted.

"To address the shortcomings, Ningxia will leverage the cooperation mechanisms between the eastern and western regions in China by focusing on the specific needs of Ningxia and the strengths of the eastern regions".

To date, Ningxia has forged enduring and stable scientific and technological partnerships with 12 provinces and municipalities, 20 universities and research institutions in the eastern regions of China, as well as organizing more than 2,000 east-west regional scientific and technological collaboration projects, drawing in tens of thousands of scientific and technological experts from other regions.

"By harnessing technological innovation as a key driver and skillfully leveraging favorable conditions, Ningxia has facilitated a substantial advancement that propels industrial growth and economic expansion," Wang said.