This year, an increasing number of regions have begun implementing scenario-based investment promotion.

Identifying scenarios, publishing lists, and connecting with businesses.

Behind this lies a shift in the logic of investment promotion: it is no longer just about seeking projects, but also about identifying “scenario opportunities” in local development.

Essentially, this involves creating “testing grounds” for innovative technologies and matching cutting-edge products with the market.

Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan, the cultivation of emerging and future industries requires ample space for real-world testing and iteration.

Therefore, while actively opening up scenarios, we must also be wary of "artificially created scenarios" that are detached from reality.

01 Scenarios Have Become a Buzzword

Currently, as the construction of a unified national market progresses, traditional investment promotion models are no longer viable, and regions across the country are seeking new breakthroughs.

In 2025, from the State Council to local development and reform commissions, and from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to municipal investment promotion bureaus, one term has appeared frequently in official documents: “scenarios.”

Chongqing has released multiple lists of innovative scenarios; Shenzhen has published its fourth batch of “City + AI” application scenario lists.

In June, at a State Council executive meeting, the national government explicitly proposed for the first time the need to “establish a system for compiling lists of application scenarios in key sectors.”

On November 7, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Cultivation and Opening of Scenarios to Promote the Large-Scale Application of New Scenarios.”

Covering five aspects, the document identifies 22 key areas for the cultivation and opening of application scenarios, providing a systematic blueprint for scenario opening.

These frequent high-level directives within a short period underscore the urgency and importance of “scenario cultivation” and “scenario opening.”

Especially as we enter the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into real productive capacity has once again become a top priority.

During this period, scenarios serve as the bridge connecting the innovation chain and the industrial chain, becoming the core pathway to overcoming the “last mile” in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

Scenarios drive R&D through real-world needs, spur innovation by addressing specific problems, and enable new technologies to continuously iterate and mature through practical application.

Many potential new demands do not exist naturally; they must be discovered and created through the construction of scenarios, released and activated through the opening of scenarios, and validated and refined through scenario testing to establish new supply models.

The logic of investment promotion is changing; an open, concrete, and compelling scenario often attracts high-quality enterprises and innovative teams more effectively than other incentives.

For investment promotion professionals, this undoubtedly presents new requirements: they must not only understand industries and policies but also possess the ability to design scenarios and foster openness.

Today, the direction is clear: let scenarios serve as the “soil” for cultivating future industries.

Future regional competition will, to a significant extent, be a competition in scenario provision capabilities.

02 Scenario-Based Investment Promotion: How to Understand It

What exactly is scenario-based investment promotion?

A widely accepted definition describes it as a government-coordinated approach that focuses on new technology application areas. By proactively providing application scenarios and market opportunities, it bridges the gap between technological innovation and market demand to attract enterprises and projects to establish operations locally.

The core of scenario-based investment promotion lies in thinking from the enterprise’s perspective: what do companies need most to establish operations and grow?

This approach makes investment promotion efforts more targeted, allowing the introduced enterprises to integrate more effectively into the local industrial ecosystem.

In practice, this approach moves beyond the short-term mindset of introducing individual projects and shifts toward the long-term cultivation of an industrial ecosystem.

A well-designed scenario often acts like a magnet, attracting enterprises from across the industrial chain to cluster together, thereby forming a truly vibrant industrial cluster.

So how can we identify and create valuable scenarios?

The key lies in deeply exploring the core needs of local development, systematically cataloging available scenario resources, and establishing a clear, dynamic “scenario opportunity list.”

First, scenarios can be identified based on technological innovation.

Focusing on future industries such as aerospace information, next-generation artificial intelligence, and autonomous driving—or specialized fields like brain science and synthetic biology—we can create “first-use technology scenarios” that are demonstrable and scalable, enabling rapid iteration of new technologies through real-world applications.

Just as the 100 typical scenarios released by the National Data Bureau—covering 30 key areas where data elements intersect with urban governance—not only provide a rich testing ground for AI and big data companies but also generate a wealth of opportunities for technology procurement and service outsourcing.

Furthermore, scenarios in the autonomous driving sector—such as high-precision map applications, autonomous parking on urban roads, and unmanned sanitation operations—serve as compelling incentives to attract relevant enterprises to establish operations locally.

Second, identify scenarios centered on industrial upgrading.

Traditional industries remain the foundation and lifeblood of China’s national economy, with an urgent need for transformation—a situation that holds vast potential for application scenarios.

In the field of smart manufacturing, we can promote the application of scenarios such as VR production line planning, digital workshops, smart factories, and product quality traceability.

Applications of smart agricultural machinery in smart agriculture, as well as data governance and business intelligence in the big data sector, are all real-world scenarios that have emerged from the practice of transformation and upgrading.

In recent years, some localities have conducted extensive explorations in scenario-based investment promotion.

It is reported that more than 60 cities have accelerated their efforts in scenario innovation, including not only first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, but also third- and fourth-tier cities such as Yibin.

Take Yibin, for example: early last year, the city held a high-profile citywide application scenario launch event, unveiling 78 urban application scenarios across seven major categories in a single session.

These range from “road testing and demonstration operations for smart connected vehicles” to “digital platforms for urban energy management” and “flexible interconnection of urban distribution grids.” The application scenarios are highly detailed and each is linked to specific responsible entities and investment scales.

What sets Yibin apart is that it does not treat these scenarios as isolated projects; instead, it bundles them with industrial funds, simultaneously launching a 60-billion-yuan fund matrix to focus on supporting the development of the science and technology innovation industries behind these scenarios.

Nowadays, many companies are increasingly inclined to “find application scenarios for their technologies.” In this process, regions that can keenly identify needs, proactively integrate resources, and build application scenarios will gain a competitive edge.

03 Beware of Forced Scenarios

Today, scenario-based investment promotion has transformed investment attraction efforts from passive waiting to active opportunity creation, becoming a new focal point for investment promotion across regions.

However, amid this fervor, we must remain calm and be wary of “artificially creating” scenarios.

As one investment promotion professional once remarked, “Although every region is talking about opening up application scenarios, the biggest fear is forcing scenarios where none exist. It may look lively on the surface, but once the pilot phase ends, without real orders, it will only end in a mess.”

It is important to understand that genuine scenarios are not “staged” but “organically developed.”

They stem from genuine needs, real pain points, and authentic participation.

Without these elements, scenarios are merely decorative scenery—replacing the slogan of “manufacturing projects” while perpetuating the mindset of “manufacturing projects.”

Looking at the current situation, some regions have already encountered various problems during implementation.

Lacking in-depth market research, they deviate from actual needs or technical feasibility, opening up scenarios based solely on subjective judgment or forcibly constructing application scenarios through artificial design and the piling up of resources.

Even if such scenarios are “forced into existence,” they will ultimately leave enterprises “with products but no stage,” making it difficult to achieve commercialization or sustainable operations.

Scenarios often span regions, departments, technical standards, and data systems, but in practice, inconsistent rules and standards frequently make it difficult to form complete application scenarios.

Take the low-altitude economy as an example: airspace management across regions features various models such as “joint military-civilian approval” and “civil aviation administration.” If only the application scenarios are opened up without simultaneously planning supporting elements like low-altitude air traffic control and energy supply, the scenarios will be incomplete and unable to function properly.

Similar issues are equally prominent in fields such as intelligent connected vehicles and the Industrial Internet.

In addition, there are issues of administrative barriers, market fragmentation, and resource monopolies.

Some local governments set up hidden barriers to exclude technology and capital from outside their regions; meanwhile, some industry giants operate key scenarios in closed systems, creating “data silos” and “ecosystem walls.”

This not only severely hinders the formation of a unified national market but also impedes the large-scale application and development of technology.

In short, when attracting investment for application scenarios, two key points must be noted:

First, avoid “forced matches”; scenarios must stem from genuine needs and should not be artificially created solely for investment attraction, as this would only lead to a waste of resources;

Second, avoid a “one-size-fits-all” approach; instead, create distinctive scenarios based on local resource endowments. For example, resource-based cities can prioritize the development of smart mining scenarios, while coastal cities can focus on marine economy scenarios.

In Conclusion

The essence of scenario-based investment promotion is to shift industrial development from being “policy-driven” to “opportunity-driven.”

This requires local authorities to clarify two lists: the Scenario Opportunity List, which answers “What do we need?”, and the Scenario Capability List, which answers “What do we have?”.

This achieves a two-way alignment where “technology seeks scenarios” and “scenarios seek technology.”

Future regional competition will, to a large extent, be a contest of scenario capabilities.

Whoever can be the first to establish a virtuous cycle of “demand-scenario-industry” will be able to provide indispensable nourishment for emerging industries and seize opportunities.