On June 9, 2025, the People’s Daily (page 11) reported on a major fact-finding mission led by Zuojun Jiang, Chairman of the Central Committee of the China Zhi Gong Party, and Executive Vice Chairman Endi Zhang.

Entrusted by the CPC Central Committee, the delegation visited Jiangsu and Hunan with the aim of promoting the integrated development of technological and industrial innovation, while leveraging the unique strengths of the overseas Chinese community to strengthen enterprise-led technological innovation and advance high-level opening-up.

From the June 9, 2025, page 11 report

As part of the research, the delegation visited CiDi, a global unicorn in commercial vehicle autonomous driving, and learned that nearly 60% of CiDi’s employees are engaged in R&D. As the company enters uncharted territory in several areas of innovation, new challenges have begun to surface—most notably, a lack of well-matched talent development pathways for technological innovation and the inadequacy of financial services in supporting the full lifecycle of technological and industrial innovation.

The delegation emphasized that enterprises are not only key players in the market economy but also central drivers of technological innovation. They recommended stimulating innovation momentum, building a robust innovation ecosystem, opening major science and technology innovation scenarios to enterprises, deepening enterprise-led integration of industry, academia, and research, supporting enterprises in actively integrating into global innovation networks, encouraging foreign-invested companies to establish R&D centers in China, improving science and technology service systems, and increasing financial support for innovation.