Research and development (R&D) investment in China grew 10.1% last year to 3.07 trillion, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). China's R&D investment exceeded CNY1 trillion in 2012 and CNY2 trillion in 2019, and it took only three years to raise it to CNY3 trillion 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% 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 CNY2.39 trillion last year, up 11% year-on-year. R&D spending by companies accounted for 77.6% 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 CNY200 billion for the first time, totaling CNY202.35 billion, up 11.4% year-on-year and ranking second globally. The contribution of tertiary educational institutions to basic R&D spending was 44.8% and that of government-owned research organizations 38.3%.
China has also expanded financial expenditures on science and technology to support innovation. Last year, national fiscal expenditure on science and technology reached CNY1.11 trillion, up 3.4%, 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%, which showed that these benefits incentivized enterprises to increase R&D investment. In 2022, R&D expenditures in the eastern region amounted to CNY2.02 trillion, up 10.4%, with expenditures in the central area increasing 11.9%. R&D expenditures in the Yangtze River Economic Belt reached CNY1.48 trillion, up 10.4%, the second double-digit rise in many years, the Global Times reports.
But the South China Morning Post added that the proportion of funding allocated to basic research remained relatively low, potentially hindering some of the nation’s development goals. China spent more than CNY2.5 trillion, or 82% of total expenditures, on experimental development last year, compared with CNY348 billion on applied research. China spent a record CNY202 billion on basic research last year, ranking it second globally, but it amounted to just 6.57% of China’s total R&D spending. When the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) introduced China’s 14th Five Year Plan at the end of 2021, officials highlighted a significant gap in China’s basic research expenditures compared with major developed countries, where spending typically ranges between 15% to 25%. The Commission proposed that by 2025, China’s spending on basic research should reach or exceed 8% of total R&D spending. Meanwhile, per capita annual funding for researchers in 2022 was CNY484,000 calculated on full-time working hours, a decrease of CNY5,000 from the previous year. Chinese researchers are facing stiffer competition for research funding in recent years.
