AI face Photo: VCG

China’s nine government departments have recently issued a guideline to accelerate technology-driven commerce, rolling out a package of measures to integrate cutting-edge digital tech innovations with commercial services to expand high‑quality supply and foster new consumption driving forces.

The overall goal is to upgrade goods consumption, expand service consumption, improve circulation efficiency and foster innovation in integrated consumption scenarios in a coordinated manner. It seeks to scale up the adoption of emerging technologies as it advances intelligent, green and integrated development across the entire commercial chain.

The guideline calls for in-depth implementation of the “AI+Manufacturing” special initiative, to deeply embed artificial intelligence into product R&D, design, production and marketing links. Authorities aim to enrich supplies of intelligent consumer goods including smartphones, personal computers, smart home appliances, wearable devices and robots.

It prioritizes faster market translation of frontier technologies such as brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and embodied intelligence. China will ramp up R&D of key technologies in new displays and smart terminals, expand real-world application scenarios and viable business models, and scale up demonstration projects. The plan supports building commercial technology innovation hubs and cultivating technology transfer institutions focused on consumer goods.

The country will also nurture well-regulated new intelligent service forms including robotic services and virtual human companionship. It backs R&D and industrialization of ultra-high-definition audiovisual technologies, promoting immersive audio-visual experiences in shopping districts, cultural entertainment, tourism and education. AI and digital twin technologies will be deployed to upgrade IP development and design for culture, tourism, sports, national-trend and time-honored industries, enabling cross-sector integration.

The policy marks another push to leverage technology to upgrade commerce and consumption, bridging lab breakthroughs with mass-market products and services, while nurturing new growth points for domestic demand, experts said.

The tech-driven commerce strategy aims to empower the entire chain spanning production, circulation and consumption. It targets consumer-facing scenarios for both goods and services, with the major goal of creating new supply, fostering fresh consumption drivers and lifting consumer experience, Hu Qimu, a professor at the Maritime Silk Road Institute of Huaqiao University, told the Global Times on Monday.

Technology and market demand often reinforce each other. Larger market demand spreads upfront R&D costs, helping frontier technologies cross the break-even point and form viable commercial cycles, he said.