China's innovation journey never stops. From the AI-powered smart city ecosystem in Xiong'an and Shandong's gram-precision commercial rocket assembly to Datong's digitally transformed locomotive factories, sci-tech innovation is reshaping the country's development landscape.

Xiong'an: A model of innovation

In the Zhongguancun Science Park in Xiong'an New Area, the R&D team of Mech-Mind Robotics, a company that makes industrial 3D cameras and AI-powered software for intelligent robotics, is upgrading its intelligent production line. Since settling in Xiong'an in 2024, the company has attracted numerous talents in the field of AI.

"In Xiong'an, there are changes every quarter, even every month," the company’s representative Ma Xiaoqian said. Xiong'an's AI and other application scenarios are strengthening the foundation for smart cities and helping companies develop.

Currently, over 750 companies have signed agreements to operate the 33 themed buildings in Xiong'an, forming a distinctive development model of "one building, one industry."

The "upstream and downstream" industrial ecosystem, where adjacent buildings are essentially connected, has led to a high concentration of innovative elements in Xiong'an. Algorithm development, computing power support, and application scenarios are all condensed within a single building so that companies can collaborate on innovation without leaving the premises.

This model has not only reduced communication costs and improved innovation efficiency, but also acts as a gravitational field attracting industrial clusters.

Rich scenarios such as smart transportation, ecological protection, and digital governance are also boosting the application of new technologies and industries, becoming an important engine for cultivating new quality productive forces.

In the underground utility tunnels, inspectors use a smart city system to remotely inspect the neatly arranged pipelines.

Thousands of sensors act like loyal sentinels, guarding the lifeline of this city 24 hours a day.

From the digital brain in the cloud to the multi-level underground infrastructure project, Xiong'an has become a vivid example of innovation-driven green development, turning the blueprint for the future city into reality.

Digitalization boosts train manufacturing

From the "Heping" steam locomotive to the "Fuxing" intelligent locomotive, CRRC Datong Co., Ltd. has produced countless locomotives for trains traveling all over China. Digitalization and intelligentization have given new vitality to this cradle of traditional high-end equipment manufacturing.

In the assembly plant of CRRC Datong, automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) come and go along electric screen cabinet manufacturing cell lanes. These cubic, deft machines have greatly enhanced production efficiency.

When the AGVs come across operating staff in their routes, their sensors instantaneously identify the "barrier" and they stop. Only after the staff walk away do the AGVs continue moving along their preset routes to the destination.

When they stop there, trays carrying materials like precision electrical parts pop out automatically, no manual handling is needed.

Liu Tao, an assembler at the factory, said the workers had to use forklifts previously to transport materials. "The factory floors are vast and the workstations scattered; so we had to make dozens of trips a day. Our calves would cramp from all the running," Liu said.

With the AGVs taking care of moving materials, the assemblers can focus on precise assembly.

In the bogie factory, a click on the command button of the operating platform makes a mechanical arm slowly rotate, securely grip the heavy vehicle wheels and axles, lift them and precisely position them into the wheel set assembly machine.

The entire sequence is seamless, with even the bolt tightening torque executed with pinpoint accuracy, perfectly meeting the process specifications.

Ten years ago, experienced craftsmen were needed to do all this work, said Song Wei, head of the wheel set press fit workstation. With the intelligent system, the production plan, material information and technological parameters are all on screen, and the system guides the operator throughout the entire process with real-time reminders.

"Following the system, even green hands can do high standard work. Production efficiency has increased by over 30 percent, and the production qualification rate is nearly 100 percent," Song said.

Weighing rockets to the gram

In a sunlit assembly hall in Haiyang, Shandong, workers are completing final checks on the Gravity 1 Y3 launch vehicle. Its core stage, four solid boosters, and payload fairing will soon be integrated into the world's most powerful all-solid rocket, scheduled to fly in the first half of this year.

One of the last steps is weighing each major component, a process locally called zhang cheng, or "taking the measure."

Crane operator Dong Lei carefully lifts the 10-meter-long, multi-ton core stage and moves it onto a high-precision scale. The reading must be accurate to within 0.1 kilogram.

"Even a small weight difference can affect the flight path," explains Wang Wuqin, deputy director of the test center. Engineers reweigh every part to adjust flight software based on the actual mass, which can vary due to coatings or assembly materials.

What sets Gravity 1 apart is its "three-and-a-half stage" design: three stacked solid cores with four strap-on boosters. This configuration, rare among commercial solid rockets, enables flexible mission planning. Future flights could use zero, two, or four boosters, or even switch to liquid ones.

But bundling boosters creates a tough challenge. They must stay firmly attached during ascent, then separate sideways without shaking the core. The joint between the booster and the core handles about 200 tons of force while enduring intense vibration and heat. If the materials fail, the parts could fuse together and prevent separation.

"This isn't just mechanics," Wang says. "It combines structural design, materials, control systems, and aerodynamics, all at once."

Currently, only China's Long March rockets use this technique. Gravity 1 is the first commercial all-solid rocket in the country to master it, filling a key gap in domestic space capability.