R&D Photo:Xinhua

Research and development (R&D) investment in China grew 10.1 percent last year to 3.07 trillion yuan ($421.97 billion), up 10.1 percent year-on-year, continuing the momentum of faster growth, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday.

China's R&D investment exceeded 1 trillion yuan in 2012 and 2 trillion yuan in 2019, and it took only three years to raise it to 3 trillion yuan in 2022, reflecting the effectiveness of China's innovation-driven development strategy.

R&D intensity - the ratio of R&D to GDP - reached 2.54 percent last year, up 0.11 percentage points from the previous year. China's R&D investment intensity ranked 13th in the world.

The R&D expenditure of enterprises stood at 2.39 trillion yuan last year, up 11 percent year-on-year. R&D spending by companies accounted for 77.6 percent of the national figure, up 0.7 percentage points, showing that companies remained the major source of R&D spending.

In 2022, China's investment in basic research exceeded 200 billion yuan for the first time, totaling 202.35 billion yuan, up 11.4 percent year-on-year and ranking second globally.

The contribution of tertiary educational institutions to basic R&D spending stood at 44.8 percent and that of government-owned research organizations at 38.3 percent.

China has also expanded financial expenditures on science and technology to support innovation.
Last year, national fiscal expenditure on science and technology reached 1.11 trillion yuan, up 3.4 percent, NBS data showed, as spending on science and technology maintained steady growth.

In 2022, the number of high-technology enterprises getting tax breaks for R&D rose 11.7 percent, which showed that these benefits incentivized enterprises to increase R&D investment.

In 2022, R&D expenditures in the eastern region amounted to 2.02 trillion yuan, up 10.4 percent, with expenditures in the central area increasing 11.9 percent. 

R&D expenditures in the Yangtze River Economic Belt reached 1.48 trillion yuan, up 10.4 percent, the second double-digit rise in many years.

Global Times