As world leaders gather at the 2026 Boao Forum to discuss how to shape a shared future, Asia's manufacturing heartlands face a decisive moment. Sustainable development is no longer just a policy goal but has become an industrial imperative.

The challenge is to turn this imperative into a coherent growth strategy. This requires embracing the "twin transition" — the simultaneous pursuit of digital transformation and green innovation — while recognizing that technology alone isn't enough. True prosperity needs a holistic strategy that integrates industrial excellence with social cohesion.

China's industrial evolution over the past decade illustrates the power of this transition. Since the launch of the "Made in China 2025" strategy, the nation has shifted decisively from its reliance on labor-intensive manufacturing to a model focused on high-value and technology-intensive manufacturing. A key driver of this transformation has been the simultaneous adoption of smart manufacturing and green manufacturing — digitalization and decarbonization working in tandem.

The results are visible in global value chains. Data from the OECD's Trade in Value Added 2025 report show a dramatic rise in China's share of global value added in key industries. In the computer, electronic, and optical equipment sector, China's global market share rose from 4 percent in 1995 to 25 percent in 2022. A similar jump is observed in the automobile industry, where China's share climbed from 3 percent to 25 percent during the same period. In the machinery and chemical sectors, China now leads the world with 33 percent and 28 percent global market shares respectively.

This trajectory is not slowing down. China is now advancing toward "new quality productive forces", targeting frontier technologies such as 6G communications, humanoid robots and quantum computing. The next phase of industrial leadership will not be defined by cost advantages but by innovation, efficiency and sustainability.

The Republic of Korea's experience is a compelling case for why this integration matters. Recent research conducted by the KDI School of Public Policy and Management across 1,873 manufacturing firms shows that firms that adopt both digital and green innovations increased sales by 47 to 57 percent — significantly higher than firms pursuing only one type of innovation. The strongest synergies emerged when digital tools such as artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things and 5G were leveraged for eco-friendly initiatives like energy conservation. This demonstrates that digitalization is the driving force that makes the green transition both feasible and profitable, turning an environmental "burden" into an engine for growth.

The Boao Forum's vision of a "shared future" requires more than just technology; it demands a social and institutional framework that ensures no one is left behind. The ROK's Saemaul Undong, or New Village Movement, shows how institutional innovation can support the structural pillars of sustainable development and bridge the urban-rural divide. Sustainable development is not possible if there is a wide gap between urban centers and rural areas.

In the 1970s, the ROK eliminated this disparity through a "performance-based" support system. By providing resources to villages that demonstrated self-reliance, the government triggered a competitive spirit of "diligence, self-help and cooperation". Today, this incentive-based model is essential to encourage rural participation in green initiatives such as smart agriculture and sustainable land use, ensuring that the benefits of the twin transition reach the grassroots level.

Green transition must not only reduce emissions in factories but also enhance carbon absorption. This success was not driven by top-down subsidies alone, but through community-led Village Forestry Associations.

These organizations used profit-sharing mechanisms to overcome the "tragedy of the commons", aligning individual incentives with collective environmental goals. This community-led approach is a valuable template for other Asian countries seeking to integrate environmental protection with rural livelihoods.

As AI and robotics reshape the workforce, stability in labor-management relations will become paramount. During the rapid industrialization of the ROK, enterprises were treated as a unified community.

By fostering labor-management councils and quality control circles, the country achieved simultaneous growth in productivity and worker welfare, which ultimately laid the groundwork for the National Health Insurance system in 1977. In the digital age, tools like AI can only be effective if workers are treated as stakeholders. Fostering a community spirit ensures that productivity gains lead to higher real wages and robust social safety nets.

The twin transition is not a binary choice between generating profits and preserving the planet, nor between high-tech cities and traditional villages. It is a holistic strategy that harmonizes the bit of digital intelligence with the atom of green innovation.

The ROK's experience shows that when rewards follow effort and when communities grow together, even the most ambitious transitions become sustainable. By combining China's massive industrial scale with the ROK's institutional lessons in building social capital, we can build a resilient, inclusive global economy that truly helps shape a shared future for Asia and the world.

The author is the dean of the KDI School of Public Policy and Management in Sejong in the Republic of Korea.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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