Photo taken on May 18, 2020 shows a logo in front of AstraZeneca's building in Luton, Britain. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)

Global drug-maker AstraZeneca is rapidly expanding its research & development (R&D) capacity in China, a senior company executive said on Wednesday, saying the company hopes it can leverage China's steadily improving innovation power.

He Jing, head of R&D China for AstraZeneca, told the Global Times at a media event on Wednesday that since the company upgraded its R&D facility into an R&D center in October 2021, the head count at the center has grown by 21 percent.

The Chinese government has attached great importance to innovation, He said, noting that there are specific policies to groom talent and support enterprises. Chinese research institutes and academies also possess a lot of potential that can be tapped by companies such as AstraZeneca.

"We are seeing a biopharmaceutical industrial cluster forming in China," He told a press conference, noting that she believes AstraZeneca's R&D spending in 2023 in the Shanghai R&D center will be 2.5 times that of 2020.

In 2021, AstraZeneca's revenue in the Chinese market grew by 12 percent year-on-year to $6 billion and the company mentioned innovation opportunities in China as a key focus for 2022, according to its annual report.

The company has signed up for the 5th China International Import Expo, the mega trade show to be held in November in Shanghai. 

The company's R&D center in Shanghai covers areas such as oncology, respiratory conditions, immunology and rare diseases as well as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic disorders.

Despite rising anti-globalization headwinds, He said the field of drug R&D will be less affected, as different regional markets have different clinical needs.

A report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization in September 2021 showed that China's global ranking in innovation has risen to 12th, becoming the only middle-income economy to enter the top 30, surpassing some developed economies such as Japan and Canada.

In 2021, China's spending on R&D grew by 14.2 percent to 2.79 trillion yuan ($415.75 billion), the second-highest globally, accounting for 2.44 percent of the country's GDP.