Local Developments
The "Yunnan Province 15th Five-Year Plan Science and Technology Innovation Plan" has recently been released. According to the Yunnan Provincial Department of Science and Technology, looking toward 2030, Yunnan will leverage its advantages in biological germplasm resources and green energy to focus on four major areas: biomanufacturing, frontier biology, artificial intelligence, and hydrogen energy and new-type energy storage, accelerating the cultivation of new quality productive forces.
"Yunnan enjoys exceptional biological germplasm resources and outstanding green energy endowments. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we will pursue a differentiated development path based on provincial conditions, concentrate efforts on distinctive frontier sectors, and focus on biomanufacturing, frontier biology, artificial intelligence, and hydrogen energy and new-type energy storage, driving the transformation of resource advantages into innovation advantages and building momentum for the development of new quality productive forces," introduced Hu Qixiang, Party Leadership Group Member of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Science and Technology and President of the Yunnan Provincial Academy of Science and Technology.
In the biomanufacturing sector, Yunnan will focus on three major directions: biopharmaceuticals, green agriculture, and health products. It will tackle key technologies such as chassis cell design, high-value natural product synthesis, and non-grain feedstock substitution, promoting the transition from a major province of biological resources to a strong province of biological intelligent manufacturing and building a national highland for plateau-characteristic biomanufacturing industry.
In the frontier biology sector, Yunnan will improve experimental animal breeding bases, establish public pilot-scale evaluation platforms for organoids and organ-on-a-chip, support investigator-initiated clinical trials for cell and gene therapy products, promote organoids and organ-on-a-chip as alternative models for new drug development, and accelerate cell drug research and development. Gene-edited donor pigs bred by Yunnan Agricultural University previously supported the completion of the world's first pig-to-human liver and kidney combined xenotransplantation.
In the artificial intelligence sector, Yunnan will leverage its green electricity advantages to build computing infrastructure, construct industry-specific datasets, develop embodied intelligence products, and promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence into scenarios such as energy, mining and metallurgy, biological breeding, crop cultivation and livestock farming, and new drug research and development, using applications to drive technological iteration and building an artificial intelligence industry ecosystem with distinctive Yunnan characteristics.
In the hydrogen energy and new-type energy storage sector, as of the end of 2025, Yunnan's total installed new-type energy storage capacity reached 6.23 million kilowatts/12.55 million kilowatt-hours, ranking among the top in the country. Breakthroughs have been achieved in technologies such as wind and solar hydrogen production and solid-state hydrogen storage. Qujing has launched the construction of the country's first green hydrogen and liquid sunlight methanol full-industry-chain demonstration project, and a "new energy + energy storage + hydrogen energy" industrial matrix has taken initial shape.
Going forward, Yunnan will focus on conquering key technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells and integrated hydrogen-ammonia-methanol production, and build a highland for green hydrogen and long-duration energy storage in southwestern China.