Interpretation by the National Bureau of Statistics： China’s R&D investment has reached a new level of 3 trillion yuan.
Cctv newsAccording to the website of the National Bureau of Statistics, the latest data of the National Bureau of Statistics show that in 2022, the total social research and experimental development (R&D) funds in China will continue to maintain double-digit growth, and the total investment will reach a new level of 3 trillion yuan; The investment intensity of R&D funds increased rapidly, reaching a new height of 2.5%.
1. R&D funds grew steadily, exceeding 3 trillion yuan for the first time.
In 2022, due to multiple unexpected factors, the R&D activities of the whole society were affected to some extent. However, the policy of adding and deducting R&D expenses of enterprises continued to increase, and the mechanism of scientific and technological awards and incentives continued to improve, effectively stimulating the innovation vitality of market players, and the R&D investment of enterprises still maintained double-digit growth, driving the total R&D investment of the whole society to a new level. According to preliminary calculations, in 2022, China’s R&D investment reached 3,087 billion yuan, which exceeded the 3 trillion mark for the first time, up by 10.4% over the previous year, and has maintained double-digit growth for seven consecutive years since the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan. Calculated at constant prices, R&D expenditure increased by 8.0%[1], which was higher than the target of "the total social R&D expenditure increased by more than 7% annually" in the Tenth Five-Year Plan.
Second, the investment intensity increased rapidly, reaching a new level of more than 2.5%.
According to preliminary estimates, in 2022, the investment intensity of R&D funds (the ratio of R&D funds to GDP) in China reached 2.55%, reaching a new high, with an increase of 0.12 percentage points over the previous year [2], which was significantly higher than the average annual growth rate (0.07 percentage points) since the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, and achieved rapid improvement. From the international comparison [3], China’s R&D expenditure intensity ranks 12th among the major countries in the world, surpassing innovative countries such as France (2.35%) and the Netherlands (2.32%), and further approaching the average level of OECD countries (2.67%). According to the Global Innovation Index (GII) released by the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2022, China’s scientific and technological innovation performance ranked 11th among 132 economies, up one place from the previous year. Since 2013, China’s ranking has increased by 24 places, and it has maintained a steady upward trend for 10 consecutive years.
Third, basic research has maintained growth and new breakthroughs have been made in original innovation.
According to preliminary calculations, in 2022, China’s basic research expenditure was 195.1 billion yuan, an increase of 7.4% over the previous year; The proportion of R&D funds was 6.32%, down 0.18 percentage points from the previous year, but it was still at the second highest level in history, and remained above 6% for four consecutive years, which played a positive role in the continuous improvement of China’s original innovation capability. The state attaches great importance to basic research. In 2022, the expenditure on basic research in the budget of the central government at the corresponding level increased by 7% compared with the previous year. The construction of national laboratories and the reorganization of national key laboratories were accelerated, and the research center for basic disciplines was started. A series of new major breakthroughs were made, such as the national major scientific and technological infrastructure "steady-state strong magnetic field experimental device" to create a steady-state strong magnetic field with a field strength of 452,200 gauss.
Despite the multiple adverse factors, China’s R&D investment continues to grow steadily, which has injected great vitality into innovation and development. However, we should also see that there is still a big gap between us and the requirements of accelerating the construction of a strong country in science and technology and realizing self-reliance and self-improvement in high-level science and technology. In the next step, we should fully implement the spirit of the 20th Party Congress, adhere to the orientation of self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology policies, encourage and guide all parties to increase investment in R&D, especially in original innovation, and strive to promote the transformation of R&D investment from "big" to "strong", so as to provide strong support for the construction of a strong country in science and technology.
Note:
[1] Except here, the growth rate of other indicators in this paper is the current price growth rate.
[2] According to the final revision of GDP in 2021 by the National Bureau of Statistics, the investment intensity of R&D funds in 2021 was correspondingly revised to 2.43%.
[3] International comparative data comes from https://data.oecd.org, the official website database of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the latest data is 2020.