Commentary
Ming ZHU, Yifei XU, Fei ZHAO, Haifeng YUAN, Ruicheng QIU, Jie CHEN
China has achieved remarkable accomplishments in infrastructure construction, with its scale and speed ranking among the world's foremost. However, behind this rapid development, engineering design software, the "nerve center" of digital engineering, has long been dominated by foreign products, creating severe "bottleneck" risks due to external dependencies. The inclusion of the "Issue of Indigenous Engineering Design Software in the Infrastructure Sector" among the Top Ten Engineering and Technological Challenges for 2024 by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) underscores the extreme urgency of addressing this "Achilles' heel". This paper first reviews how foreign software established market dominance in China through first−mover advantages during the technological evolution from 2D drafting to 3D modeling. It then provides an in−depth analysis of the multidimensional risks arising therefrom, including threats to national information security, constraints on key core technologies, and stifled industrial innovation vitality. Building upon this, the paper systematically evaluates the profound "growth dilemmas" currently faced by domestic software in achieving autonomy in key core technologies, fostering a collaborative innovation ecosystem, and adapting to the strategic demands of "new quality productive forces". In response to this situation, this paper focuses on the core question of "How can indigenous engineering design software forge the 'Chinese cornerstone' of digital infrastructure?", rejecting superficial, symptomatic remedies and instead endeavoring to explore systemic breakthrough strategies for developing indigenous and controllable engineering design software. It emphasizes that this is not merely a technological challenge but a critical strategic imperative concerning the consolidation of national digital sovereignty, the cultivation of new industrial growth drivers, and the shaping of future national core competitiveness. The aim is to stimulate profound reflection within the industry on how to construct an autonomous, secure, and efficient "Chinese cornerstone" for digital engineering, and to foster consensus that drives proactive practical actions.