Era Requirements, Significance, and Path Choice of Accelerating the Development of New Quality Productivity in China’s Sports Industry ()
1. Introduction
The key to social development lies in the continuous liberation and advancement of productive forces. In recent years, the sports industry—one of China’s vigorously supported “sunrise industries”—has not only served as a crucial foundation for implementing the national strategies of building a sports powerhouse and promoting national fitness, but also emerged as a new growth driver for increasing national income. With its strengths in quality services, cross-sector integration, and green sustainability, it has consistently played a vital role in meeting the public’s growing and diverse sports demands. However, constrained by factors such as “uneven resource distribution, low coordination of production factors, and insufficient application of digital technology”, China’s sports industry has increasingly faced challenges of outdated industrial structures, sluggish digital transformation, and slow productivity growth. To align with the industry’s shift from “resource-driven” (Ren & Li, 2023) to “innovation-driven” development, the General Administration of Sport of China convened a special meeting in March 2024 to advance the implementation of the Outline for Building a Strong Nation in Sports. The meeting explicitly emphasized the need to “seize the favorable opportunities for leapfrog development in sports... and foster new quality productive forces in sports.” This provides crucial theoretical guidance and practical basis for accelerating the development of new quality productive forces in China’s sports industry on this new journey. Therefore, to lead the sports industry toward leapfrog development on this new journey, it is imperative to resolutely accelerate the development of new-quality productive forces in sports, including those within the sports industry. As the specific manifestation of new-quality productive forces in the sports industry sector, the new-quality productive forces of the sports industry represent a new form of productive forces distinct from traditional sports industry productive forces. They also serve as a vital driving force for upgrading traditional sports industries, expanding emerging sports industries, and cultivating future sports industries. It is evident that accelerating the development of new quality productive forces in China’s sports industry is both a necessary step for the industry to seize the initiative in its development and the key to shaping new competitive advantages. Given this, researching the contemporary demands, significant importance, and pathway selection for accelerating the development of new quality productive forces in China’s sports industry represents a beneficial measure to address the sluggish digital transformation of the industry and drive the transformation of its production relations, holding significant practical significance.
2. Defining the Three Key Elements of New Quality Productivity in the Sports Industry
From an etymological perspective, the primary vehicle for the new quality productive forces in the sports industry is the “sports industry” itself. Its driving force lies in the “new”, its pursuit is the “quality”, and its core essence is “productive forces”. As a higher-level, new-quality form of productive forces, the new quality productive forces in the sports industry represent an energy-level leap from traditional productive forces within the sector (Ren & Li, 2023). They also constitute a new-quality productive force that better aligns with the requirements for high-quality development in the sports economy. Just as Marx proposed that “productivity consists of three elements: laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor”, accelerating the development of China’s new-quality productive forces in the sports industry requires defining the core elements of this new-quality productive force—namely, productivity (laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor). This constitutes a necessary step in researching the new-quality productive forces within the sports industry. Therefore, drawing upon existing research, this paper further subdivides the new-quality productive forces in the sports industry into three elements: new-quality workers, new-quality means of labor, and new-quality objects of labor. This aims to reveal more profoundly their essence, significance, and importance.
2.1. New-Quality Workers in the Sports Industry
Marx and Engels held that productive forces represent “the development of productive capacity and its elements” (Marx, 2004). This development unfolds as a spiral-shaped ascent from quantitative to qualitative change, with each leap inevitably triggering transformations in production relations and social structures. As the most dynamic and crucial element within productive forces, workers not only shoulder the vital mission of value creation in the production process, but their knowledge reserves, competency levels, and experiential capabilities directly determine the height and standard of productive force development. As Zhang Hui proposed, “the development of advanced productive forces relies on the support and propulsion of high-quality laborers.” Only by placing high importance on cultivating such laborers can we provide a continuous source of momentum for the advancement of productive forces. On this new journey, the emergence of new-quality productive forces within the sports industry not only enriches and expands the philosophical scope of new-quality productive forces but also imposes new demands and expectations on the three elements of production, including the new-quality laborers of the sports industry. Research indicates that the new round of technological revolution is not only driving the transformation of the labor process from traditional production to digital production but also confronting unprecedented demands for change in laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor. In reality, the knowledge systems of traditional sports industry workers are confined to specific professional domains such as sports economics, sports management, sports marketing, and sports event organization. While this specialized knowledge ensures proficiency within their respective fields, the growing diversification and convergence of the sports industry highlights a critical gap: the widespread lack of technological innovation capabilities among traditional workers. This deficiency will inevitably hinder the successful translation of sports research outcomes into practical applications. In contrast, new-quality workers in the sports industry are high-caliber professionals who, beyond mastering essential sports industry expertise, possess digital skills, innovative thinking, interdisciplinary capabilities, and a multi-industry convergence perspective. They are advanced, composite sports talents proficient in utilizing high-precision sports equipment and aligned with the developmental demands of the industry’s new-quality productive forces. Thus, the new-quality productive forces in the sports industry are centered on “technological innovation” as the core element, driving the industry toward higher levels and broader domains. This necessitates that new-quality workers continuously broaden their knowledge base, enhance professional skills (Shi et al., 2024), and strengthen technological innovation capabilities. Such development ensures they create higher-value sports products and services in actual production processes, thereby achieving the goal of enhancing the quality and efficiency of the sports industry. Thus, the new-quality workforce in the sports industry represents both an evolution and advancement beyond traditional sports industry laborers (Butte & Zheng, 2024). They constitute a group of workers exhibiting “new-quality” characteristics in knowledge, skills, and capabilities. Furthermore, they form the most dynamic and crucial core entity within the new-quality productive forces of the sports industry. This workforce is capable of transforming sports research outcomes from a “knowledge form” into tangible “material form” through sports technological innovation, thereby better meeting the public’s growing demand for high-quality, multi-tiered sports experiences.
2.2. New-Quality Means of Labor in the Sports Industry
Marx emphasized that means of labor are “the objects or combination of objects that workers place between themselves and the object of labor to transmit their activity to it.” The new productive forces in the sports industry involve the deep restructuring of sports industry means of labor through disruptive and innovative sports technology, driving the transformation from traditional, old-quality means of labor to digital, new-quality means of labor. In practice, empowered by this new productive force, the sports industry’s new labor tools primarily encompass modern scientific technologies such as algorithms, computing power, data, digital technologies, new materials, and new energy sources. These manifest as: intelligent wearable sports devices, biodegradable athletic tracks, recyclable stadium facilities, cloud fitness, digital sports training, and scientific athletic performance monitoring. Thus, these new-quality means of production serve as vital carriers and tangible markers of the industry’s new-quality productive forces, providing indispensable support for accelerating their development.
2.3. New Quality Labor Objects in the Sports Industry
Marx pointed out that the object of labor refers to “all material resources upon which one applies one’s labor.” (Marx, 2009). With the emergence of new productive forces in the sports industry, not only has the scope of the industry’s labor objects expanded, but it has also driven the sports sector to provide the public with higher-quality and more efficient sports products and services. This has injected new vitality into the high-quality development of the sports industry, fully meeting the people’s aspirations for a high-quality sports lifestyle. In fact, while the objects of labor for traditional sports industry workers were sports products and services, the emergence of new-quality productive forces signifies a transformation and upgrading of these objects to a “new quality”. Consequently, the new-quality objects of labor in the sports industry—as the foundation for forming new-quality productive forces—are no longer confined to traditional raw materials (whether unprocessed or processed). Instead, they represent novel, high-value-added objects of labor emerging in the production process through the full utilization of digital technologies.
In summary, the new-quality productive forces in the sports industry represent a higher-level, new-quality state of productivity. They are also high-tech, high-quality productive forces that utilize and transform nature, born from the empowerment of the sports industry through technological innovation. From the perspective of “novelty”, the new-quality productive forces in the sports industry represent a breakthrough and transcendence of traditional production factors—including laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor. Driven by technological innovation as the key engine, they empower the transformation of relevant labor entities, products and services, sports facilities, and equipment within the industry. This manifests as a new-quality productive force that embodies new technologies and reshapes new values. From the perspective of “quality”, the new-quality productive forces in the sports industry manifest as high-quality, novel productive capacities. Building upon leapfrog transformations in traditional productive elements and their combinations driven by pivotal, disruptive technologies, they create higher-quality new elements, new models, new drivers, and new business formats—advanced productive forces aligned with the demands of high-quality development in the sports economy.
3. The Era’s Demand for Accelerating the Development of New Quality Productive Forces in China’s Sports Industry
3.1. Mission and Responsibility: A Key Focus for Promoting High-Quality Development in the Sports Economy
In recent years, the Party and the state have placed high importance on the transformation and upgrading of the sports industry. Policy documents such as the Outline for Building a Strong Sports Nation have repeatedly emphasized accelerating the development of the sports industry into a pillar industry of the national economy, fully demonstrating its pivotal role in promoting high-quality development of the sports economy and advancing the construction of a strong sports nation. As one of the “sunrise industries” strongly supported by the state, the sports industry is a vital force in promoting stable growth of the national economy and a key indicator of a country’s comprehensive sports strength. As President Xi Jinping emphasized: “We must promote the high-quality development of the sports industry and continuously meet sports consumption demands”. The sports industry bears the important mission of satisfying the diverse sports consumption needs of the people. This requires accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the sports industry, fully leveraging its advantages in innovation-driven development, green and intensive operations, and diversified service models to meet the new requirements and responsibilities for high-quality sports economic development and sports consumption in the new era. In fact, the traditional, extensive sports industry structure can only propel the sports economy toward medium-to-low levels of development. Its actual contribution to the growth of the sports economy is negligible, making it difficult to effectively support the sports industry in driving high-quality development of the sports economy. Scholars argue that “to realize the role of the sports industry in promoting high-quality development of the sports economy, it must evolve toward higher quality, greater efficiency, and stronger sustainability”. Only through technological innovation empowering iterative upgrades in productivity can we ensure that “by 2035, the added value of the sports industry reaches 8 trillion yuan”. This will enable the sports industry to clarify its positioning, leverage its unique advantages, and play an active leading role in driving high-quality development of the sports economy.
Against the backdrop of the new era, the sports industry shoulders the mission of elevating national sports consumption levels. Promoting the development of new qualitative productive forces within China’s sports industry is key to achieving high-quality development of the sports economy. As a new form of productive forces born from technological innovation and transformation, the new qualitative productive forces within the sports industry not only significantly enhance industry efficiency, quality, and vitality but also inject powerful momentum into the high-quality development of the sports economy. On one hand, the disruptive technological innovations within this new productive force possess a potent catalytic effect—they can both increase production efficiency and reduce factor costs while strengthening the driving force of industrial development. This, in turn, promotes the optimization and upgrading of the sports industry chain, laying a solid material foundation for the high-quality development of the sports economy. On the other hand, this new qualitative productive force is built upon the foundational elements of new qualitative labor, new qualitative means of production, and new qualitative objects of labor within the sports industry. It is realized through the optimized integration of these elements. This not only cultivates stronger development momentum and creates a more competitive landscape but also drives the transformation from “extensive development” reliant on low-level production factors to “intensive development” relying on high-level production factors. Consequently, it provides solid support for the high-quality development of the sports economy. Research indicates that optimizing the allocation of factors within the sports industry not only enhances economic efficiency but also significantly promotes high-quality socioeconomic development. Therefore, accelerating the development of new growth points in China’s sports industry is both an essential requirement for advancing high-quality development in the new era and a crucial measure to meet the public’s growing demand for fitness, leisure, and consumption.
3.2. Strategic Imperative: An Essential Component of Accelerating the Development of a Sports Powerhouse
In the new era, to implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important directives on accelerating the development of a sports powerhouse, the State Council General Office issued the “Outline for Building a Sports Powerhouse” in September 2019. This document explicitly proposed the new requirement to “accelerate the development of the sports industry”, positioning it as the third major strategic task in building a sports powerhouse. In October 2021, the General Administration of Sport of China promulgated the “14th Five-Year Plan for Sports Development,” which set forth the long-term goal of “building a modern socialist sports power by 2035”. It is evident that accelerating the development of the sports industry not only plays a crucial role in the process of building a sports powerhouse but is also an essential prerequisite for achieving the goal of becoming a modern socialist sports power on schedule.
On this new journey, achieving high-quality development in the sports industry and supporting China’s grand goal of becoming a modern socialist sports power by 2035 requires the Chinese sports industry to thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important exposition on “developing new productive forces tailored to local conditions.” This will accelerate the development of new productive forces within China’s sports industry. As a concrete manifestation of the leap in traditional productive forces, the new productive forces in the sports industry represent a form of productivity aligned with the demands of building a sports powerhouse. They also constitute a new type of productive force characterized by greater frontiers, integration, and innovation. In fact, accelerating the development of new productive forces in the sports industry is the inherent logic and inevitable requirement for deepening the strategic task of building a sports powerhouse. From the perspective of “implementing the national strategy for mass fitness,” the technological attributes of new-quality productive forces in the sports industry not only advance the digital development of mass fitness (Han, Yu, & Zhang, 2024) and enhance the technological level of public services for mass fitness, but also improve the public service system for mass fitness. This efficiently meets the diverse needs of the people for mass fitness, including sporting events, sports venues, physical fitness testing, and sports injury prevention and treatment, thereby promoting the healthy development of the mass fitness strategy. From the perspective of “enhancing the overall strength of competitive sports,” the new quality productive forces in the sports industry integrate digital technologies such as AR/VR, big data, and AI. This not only enables scientific monitoring and precise guidance in athletic training, significantly improving athletes’ competitive abilities, but also provides technical support for coaching teams to obtain real-time athletic data and scientifically formulate training plans. This plays a crucial role in ensuring coaching teams accurately assess athletes’ competitive states and elevate their athletic capabilities. For instance, the National Basketball Association (NBA) utilizes data services developed by Noah Basketball to precisely measure athletic metrics including shot height, release angle, and shooting accuracy, substantially improving players’ shooting proficiency. From the perspective of “promoting the flourishing development of sports culture,” the new productive forces in the sports industry transform digital sports research achievements into culturally rich digital sports cultural products. This not only facilitates the widespread dissemination of digital sports culture and enhances public recognition of it but also helps bridge regional divides in digital sports culture, thereby driving the prosperous development of sports culture (Zhang, Guo, Zeng et al., 2020). From the perspective of “establishing a new pattern of international engagement,” the new quality productive forces in the sports industry play a positive role in international sports exchanges and enhancing China’s global influence in sports. Their green and digital-intelligent functional characteristics provide essential support for the successful hosting of international sports events and scientific research exchanges, thereby expanding China’s voice in international sports affairs. Evidently, the “new quality productive forces in the sports industry” have become a vital driving force for implementing the national fitness strategy, enhancing the overall strength of competitive sports, promoting the flourishing development of sports culture, and building a new pattern of international engagement. Based on this, the study concludes that accelerating the development of new quality productive forces in China’s sports industry is a beneficial measure for driving the transformation and upgrading of the sports industry, as well as an intrinsic driving force and an inevitable requirement for achieving the goal of building a sports powerhouse.
4. The Significant Importance of Accelerating the Development of New Quality Productive Forces in China’s Sports Industry
4.1. Promotes the High-Quality Development of the Sports Industry
In this new era and on this new journey, achieving the long-term goal of “high-quality development in the sports industry” urgently requires new theories of productive forces to guide the industry toward transformation, upgrading, and sustainable development at higher levels and across broader fields. Indeed, new-quality productive forces—as a product of the era combining Marxist theories of productive forces with contemporary Chinese development practices—represent a new type of productive force that aligns with China’s practical needs for high-quality development. As General Secretary Xi Jinping has stated, “Developing new-quality productive forces is an intrinsic requirement and key focus for promoting high-quality development.” New-quality productive forces have already demonstrated their powerful driving force for high-quality development in practice. Similarly, accelerating the development of new-quality productive forces in the sports industry plays a crucial role in advancing its high-quality development. It is evident that accelerating the development of new-quality productive forces in China’s sports industry on this new journey is a vital engine for driving the high-quality development of the nation’s sports sector. This not only fosters new forms of the sports industry but also propels the transformation of traditional sports industries toward greener and smarter digitalization. On one hand, new quality productive forces in the sports industry manifest across numerous sectors, including digital sports technology, intelligent sports manufacturing, and smart sports services. With successive breakthroughs in key and disruptive sports technologies, these sectors are experiencing multifaceted growth and comprehensive prosperity. This not only provides robust support for China to pioneer new sports industry domains and competitive arenas but also injects fresh momentum into the high-quality development of the sports industry. For instance, ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the National Speed Skating Oval successfully leveraged digital sports technology to create an intelligent venue integrating advanced features like “ventilated seating + electric skylights + rink dehumidification”, significantly meeting spectators’ demands for high-quality viewing experiences (Huang et al., 2023). On the other hand, the new productive forces within the sports industry leverage cutting-edge concepts and core technologies like the Internet of Everything and digital twins to drive the deep integration of green and digital-intelligent development. This significantly enhances the industry’s efficiency, business formats, and operational models, thereby shaping its new competitive advantages. For instance, the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center employs a new-generation intelligent control system that not only reduces overall energy consumption but also enables precise, visualized monitoring of venue energy usage. Therefore, accelerating the development of new quality productive forces in China’s sports industry will positively propel its high-quality growth. This shift helps break excessive reliance on traditional “investment-scale-driven” and “factor-driven” approaches, instead fostering innovation-driven improvements in total factor productivity. Consequently, it propels the sports industry toward higher quality and greater sustainability, holding significant value and practical significance.
4.2. Contributes to Spearheading the Development of a Modern Sports Industry System
On the new journey, the modern sports industry system, as a vital component of the modern industrial system, shoulders the mission of driving the vigorous development of sports and meeting the diverse sports consumption needs of the people. In fact, building a modern sports industry system is neither an overnight achievement nor an effortless task. It requires pooling diverse resources and strengths, including various productive forces within the sports industry, to foster a collaborative sports industry ecosystem that advances the construction and development of this modern system (Huang & Kang, 2022). Accelerating the development of new-quality productive forces in the sports industry not only addresses the urgent need for the industry to pursue high-quality development on this new journey but also aligns with its practical role in leading the construction of a modern sports industry system. It is evident that accelerating the development of new-quality productive forces in China’s sports industry is an intrinsic requirement for leading the construction of a modern sports industry system. This involves achieving continuous upgrading and leapfrogging through enhancing production efficiency and promoting structural optimization within the sports industry, thereby further propelling the development of a modern sports industry system. On one hand, the new quality productive forces in the sports industry can leverage digital technologies to achieve intelligent manufacturing of sports products and real-time sharing of sports product quality monitoring data. They can also strengthen close cooperation among various sectors within the sports industry, effectively shortening the production cycle of sports products and driving the modernization transformation of the sports industry, thereby further improving the modern sports industry system. For example, in the production and manufacturing segment of the sports tourism industry, the application of digital technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and AI can significantly enhance the automation and intelligence of sports product production. On the other hand, the emergence of new productive forces in the sports industry stems from the integration and application of digital technologies with physical sports entities and the virtual economy. This not only facilitates efficient coordination across the industry’s upstream and downstream sectors but also accelerates the continuous emergence of new business models and formats. Consequently, it fosters deep integration between the sports industry and sectors such as health, education, and tourism, thereby leading the comprehensive development of a modern industrial sports system. For instance, in August 2022, Anta Sports and Huawei Health officially established a partnership to jointly develop cutting-edge smart wearable sports equipment applications. This collaboration significantly enriched the industrial ecosystems of both Anta and Huawei Health, injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of their respective industries. Accelerating the development of new productive forces in the sports industry fundamentally involves advancing the theoretical research and practical application of digital technologies like cloud computing, blockchain, and AI. This promotes the deep integration of digital technology with new production factors. Therefore, accelerating the development of new productive forces in China’s sports industry will help maintain its leading edge amid transformation. By leveraging cutting-edge sports technology, it will gain developmental initiative and create new momentum for growth, thereby providing a solid foundation for leading the construction of a modern sports industry system.
5. Pathways for Accelerating the Development of New Quality Productive Forces in China’s Sports Industry
5.1. Building a New Development Framework for China’s Sports Industry Based on New Quality Productive Forces, Supported by Sports Industry Policy Supply
As Bao Mingxiao aptly states, “Sports industry policy refers to the action guidelines promulgated by the state to achieve specific sports industry development objectives within a given period. It also serves as a crucial means for the state to exercise macro-level leadership, regulation, and oversight over the efficient operation of the sports industry.” Evidently, as a key guide for advancing the new productive forces within China’s sports industry, enhancing the implementation effectiveness of sports industry policies to accelerate this development is not only a vital measure for steering high-quality growth in the sector but also an inherent requirement for achieving the anticipated goals of sports economic development and establishing the industry as a pillar of the national economy as scheduled. Therefore, to establish a new framework for developing the new productive forces in China’s sports industry, it is recommended to begin by “strengthening the supply of sports industry policies.” 1) Formulate new-quality productive forces policies for the sports industry at the macro level. Building upon existing policies such as the Opinions on Promoting National Fitness and Sports Consumption to Drive High-Quality Development of the Sports Industry (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), it is recommended that the General Office of the State Council, in collaboration with the General Administration of Sport of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, and other relevant ministries and commissions, jointly issue the Guiding Outline on Accelerating the Development of New-Quality Productive Forces in China’s Sports Industry (hereinafter referred to as the Guiding Outline). This document should clarify the primary objectives, key tasks, and supporting measures for developing new quality productive forces in China’s sports industry, serving as the action plan to guide this development. In reality, relying solely on the requirements and content of the Guiding Outline may prove insufficient to effectively address the practical challenges of unbalanced development in new quality productive forces within the sports industry. Therefore, it is recommended that relevant departments formulate a series of supporting policies around the Guidelines, such as the Implementation Opinions on Developing New Quality Productivity in China’s Sports Industry and the Five-Year Action Plan for Accelerating the Development of New Quality Productivity in China’s Sports Industry. This multi-tiered policy framework will establish a comprehensive policy system for new quality productivity in the sports industry, ensuring its rapid development through a robust supporting policy ecosystem. 2) Refine new-quality productive forces policies for the sports industry at the micro level. Local governments should tailor policies to their regional sports industry realities, precisely leverage local development advantages, and translate central and provincial-level policies into actionable implementation rules—such as tax incentives and fiscal support measures. By further detailing policy content, this ensures that governments at all levels, relevant departments, and industry stakeholders accurately comprehend and implement policy directives during execution. This will establish a tiered policy framework for new quality productive forces in the sports industry—linking macro, meso, and micro levels—thereby creating a favorable policy environment for the sector’s development.
5.2. Leveraging Technological Innovation in the Sports Industry to Build a New Engine for Developing China’s Sports Industry’s
New Productive Forces
General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that “we must drive industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation, particularly by leveraging disruptive and cutting-edge technologies to foster new industries, new models, and new growth drivers.” This statement underscores the pivotal role of scientific and technological innovation in supporting and guiding industrial development, while also reflecting General Secretary Xi’s profound understanding and precise grasp of achieving high-quality industrial development in the new era and on the new journey. Similarly, the sports industry must harness the driving force of scientific and technological innovation to cultivate new productive forces within the sector, thereby realizing the grand goal of high-quality development in the sports industry. Therefore, to accelerate the development of new productive forces in China’s sports industry, it is recommended to focus on sports industry technological innovation as the key driver. Efforts should be concentrated in three areas: strengthening the research, development, and application of digital sports technologies; promoting cross-border integration and innovation in sports technology; and streamlining the chain for transforming scientific and technological achievements in the sports industry. This will provide a powerful new engine for the sustained and healthy development of new productive forces in China’s sports industry. 1) Strengthen the research, development, and application of digital sports technologies to enhance the sports industry’s capacity for independent technological innovation. China’s sports industry should further cultivate awareness of sports technology innovation and intensify the R&D and application of digital sports technologies. This involves accelerating the continuous innovation of digital sports theories and methodologies, promoting the deep integration of digital sports technologies across the industry, and prioritizing breakthroughs in critical “bottleneck” digital sports technologies—including smart sports equipment and intelligent wearable fitness devices—to achieve self-reliance and strength in high-level sports technology. For instance, Huami Technology consistently integrates the concept of “connecting technology with health” into the R&D and application of digital sports technologies. By leveraging digital technologies such as artificial intelligence algorithms, it actively develops smart wearable sports devices. This not only enhances athletes’ training efficiency and health levels but also strengthens the industry’s capacity for independent technological innovation. 2) Promote cross-sectoral integration and innovation in sports technology to consolidate the industry’s scientific and technological innovation capabilities. On one hand, the sports industry should formulate integrated development strategies to drive deep convergence between sports technology and sectors such as tourism, education, healthcare, and apparel. This will broaden the upstream, midstream, and downstream technological innovation chains within the sports industry and create diversified application scenarios for sports technology. On the other hand, it should innovate the construction of the sports industry ecosystem, encouraging collaboration and communication between the sports industry and local education and sports bureaus, sports associations, sports clubs, and sports companies around new technologies, products, and services. Through diversified means such as technological innovation, resource integration, and product iteration, it should accelerate the cross-border integration and rapid development of sports technology.
6. Conclusion
The new quality productive forces in the sports industry, as the concrete manifestation of new quality productive forces within the sports sector, represent an intrinsic pathway to empower the sports industry in seizing the initiative for development. Exploring the contemporary demands, significant implications, and strategic choices for accelerating the development of new quality productive forces in China’s sports industry is essential to address the pressing questions of our era: why their development requires acceleration, what significance this acceleration holds, and how to effectively advance it. On this new journey, accelerating the development of new quality productive forces in China’s sports industry requires concerted efforts in two key areas: enhancing policy support for the sports industry and advancing technological innovation within it. This dual approach will create a new landscape for accelerating the development of new quality productive forces in China’s sports industry. Such efforts not only align with the imperative of high-quality development in China’s sports industry during the new era but also serve as the key to ensuring that the development of China’s sports industry remains highly responsive to the sporting needs of its people.