NDRC Establishes Low-Altitude Economy Development Department, Market Size Expected to Exceed 1 Trillion CNY by 2026

According to an announcement on the official website of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on December 27, the commission has officially established a Low-Altitude Economy Development Department, formally named the "Low-Altitude Economy Development Department." This department is responsible for formulating and implementing strategies and medium- to long-term plans for low-altitude economic development, proposing relevant policy recommendations, and coordinating solutions to major issues.

The NDRC also announced that the Low-Altitude Economy Development Department has recently completed two major tasks. First, the department held discussions with experts in the communication and navigation fields to discuss the construction of low-altitude intelligent network systems. Second, it exchanged views with the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and relevant central enterprises to understand typical application scenarios of the low-altitude economy in different fields and progress in infrastructure development, conducting in-depth discussions on how to plan and build low-altitude infrastructure in an orderly manner.

As an emerging growth point, the low-altitude economy has been incorporated into the 2024 Government Work Report, which explicitly calls for active development of new growth engines such as biomanufacturing, commercial aerospace, and the low-altitude economy. Following this, many local governments in China began prioritizing the development of the low-altitude economy, positioning it as a key direction for enhancing new production capacities. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology's "2025 Outlook on China's Low-Altitude Economy Development" report pointed out that 45 cities nationwide have already initiated low-altitude economy policy planning.

Specifically, Shanghai plans to build an internationally influential "Sky City" and established the Shanghai Low-Altitude Economy Industry Development Co., Ltd. on December 20. According to Tianyancha, this company has a registered capital of 900 million CNY, with shareholders including China Telecom and Shanghai Airport (Group) Co., Ltd., both under the Shanghai State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Market analysis from CCID Consulting predicts that China's low-altitude economy market size will reach 670.25 billion CNY in 2024, grow to 859.17 billion CNY in 2025, and is optimistically expected to surpass 1 trillion CNY by 2026. As of September 2024, there were over 50,000 enterprises related to the low-altitude economy in China, including 118 listed companies, 211 specialized and innovative "Little Giant" companies, and 3,991 high-tech enterprises.

Despite the rapid growth of the low-altitude economy sector, challenges such as lagging safety regulations and legal frameworks have emerged. Relevant authorities urgently need to accelerate research and develop more comprehensive management measures to address these challenges.