By Cao Cong

China's R&D expenditure has reached new heights, accounting for more than 40 percent of the global increase in research spending.

That’s according to the recently released United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization（UNESCO) Science Report: The Race Against Time for Smarter Development.

The Science Report is an essential UNESCO publication that aims to monitor global trends in scientific governance and shows the development paths that countries are pursuing.

The report contains the following key points:

China accounted for more than 40 percent of the increase in global research spending in 2018

China's R&D expenditure has reached new heights, accounting for more than 40 percent of the global increase in research spending in 2018.

Between 2014 and 2018, global spending on research soared 19.2 percent, outpacing global GDP growth (14.8 percent). More than 30 countries increased their research spending, with 44 percent of the increase coming from China.

G20 countries account for 93 percent of global research spending. Among them, China's global R&D investment increased from 21.2 percent in 2014 to 24.5 percent in 2018.

The global average R&D intensity, which is the ratio of gross expenditure on R&D to GDP, increased from 1.73 percent in 2014 to 1.79 percent in 2018, but 80 percent of countries still have less than 1 percent R&D intensity.

In 1996, China's R&D intensity was 0.56 percent; in 2018, it reached 2.19 percent, and increased to 2.4 percent in 2020.

China's R&D intensity is expected to rise to 2.8 percent by 2030.

Scientific development achievements are laudable

In recent years, China has developed a number of strategies to reduce its dependence on core foreign technology in certain industries, thus overcoming the "middle-income trap."

Today, China has the highest number of international patent applications. With 31.7 percent of global applications, China exceeds 21.7 percent of the US, 20 percent of Japan, and 13.9 percent of the EU.

China has made achievements in areas such as space technology, supercomputing, and cutting-edge strategic technologies, while the country has prioritized research on artificial intelligence and brain science for the coming years. In addition, China's manufacturing technology is increasingly sophisticated, and efforts to enhance its own innovation capabilities have paid off. Local giant Huawei is a global leader in 5G technology.

China has also made great strides in fin-tech such as mobile payments, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, digital currencies, and other areas.

The prospect of green development and transformation is promising

In 2018, China's GDP per capita reached $15,243 in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, which means it has achieved the first of its nine priority goals for sustainable development, namely, eradicating poverty and hunger.

China has proposed to be carbon neutral by 2060. To achieve its 20 percent non-fossil energy consumption goal by 2030, China is developing nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power. In addition, China has introduced "the ban on using plastic bags" to eliminate plastic bags by 2022 and reduce the use of non-biodegradable disposable plastic tableware in catering take-out in cities above the prefecture-level by 30 percent by 2025.

Compared to 2005, China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP, or carbon intensity, fell by 46 percent in 2018, meeting the 2020 target of a 40 percent to 45 percent reduction in carbon intensity.

China also encourages companies to work with partner countries of the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2017, a series of guidelines were adopted to achieve this "green" initiative.

Cao Cong, the report author, is Professor of Innovation Studies, Nottingham University Business School (China), University of Nottingham Ningbo China