Innovation is the primary driving force behind development. In recent years, the acceleration of innovation in China has been evident, from "catching up" to "running parallel" and even "leading the way". The global innovation index ranking continues to improve. The "2025 Global Innovation Index Report" released by the World Intellectual Property Organization shows that China's ranking has risen to the tenth place in the world. This is the first time that China has entered the top ten globally, with a cumulative increase of 25 places since 2013. Innovative achievements continue to emerge. Artificial intelligence, quantum technology, manned spaceflight, deep space exploration and other fields have created multiple global "firsts" and "firsts", and China's innovation is moving from breakthroughs to the improvement of system capabilities. What is particularly commendable is that cultural and technological fusion products such as "Black Myth: Wukong" and the "Nezha" animated film series have conquered the global market with world-class quality, vividly proving that innovation is not only a parameter in the laboratory, but also a creativity that can touch people's hearts. Behind the rising tide, there must be deep currents. Today in China, innovation has become the main engine driving high-quality development, and behind it lies a profound reshaping of the national innovation ecosystem. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has always placed scientific and technological innovation at the core of the country's overall development, emphasizing the "dual wheel drive" of scientific and technological innovation and institutional mechanism innovation, and continuously unleashing innovative vitality. The sustainability and stability of policies provide the most necessary 'patient capital' for innovation. The total R&D expenditure in China has increased from 1.03 trillion yuan in 2012 to 3.63 trillion yuan in 2024, ranking second in the world. The super large market with over 1.4 billion people provides a unique testing ground and application scenario for innovation in China. Nowadays, Chinese enterprises are increasingly adept at utilizing the large-scale and diversified demands of the domestic market to refine products, iterate technologies, and form innovative solutions with global competitiveness. In the fields of e-commerce, mobile payments, new energy, etc., the innovative models and technological applications generated by the Chinese market have begun to go abroad and enter the world. The leap of China's innovation strength also benefits from the ecological advantages of regional innovation clusters. The 2025 Global Innovation Index Report shows that 24 clusters in China have entered the top 100 global innovation clusters, ranking first in the world. Among them, the Shenzhen Hong Kong Guangzhou cluster will leap to the top of the world in 2025. These innovation clusters have formed a complete ecosystem, gathering numerous enterprises, universities, and institutions, promoting the efficient flow of talent, capital, and technology. The Central Economic Work Conference further expanded the construction of Beijing and Shanghai International Science and Technology Innovation Centers to the Beijing Tianjin Hebei and Yangtze River Delta regions, marking a new stage of "regional synergy" in the development of China's innovation clusters. The rapid improvement of China's innovation capability from policy guidance, market drive to industrial synergy is a successful practice of systematic engineering. It should also be noted that China's innovation still faces many challenges, such as the issue of technological dependence in key areas such as high-end chips, industrial software, and precision instruments. The innovation ecosystem and intellectual property protection system still need to be improved. Looking ahead, innovation has become a necessary question for survival and the future. Currently, global technological competition is unprecedentedly fierce, and the game in key core technology areas is profound and complex. This means that our innovation should not only pursue "speed", but also focus on achieving "strength" and "stability", making decisive breakthroughs in more "from 0 to 1" original innovations, and firmly grasping the initiative of development in our own hands. The power of innovation comes from the determination to not fall behind and the persistence to achieve long-term success. China has become one of the fastest-growing economies in terms of innovation, which is a milestone and a new starting point. Accumulate steadily, gather strength, and China's innovation waves are surging forward with courage. (New Society)