By LI Linxu

Despite the pandemic's impact, China's investment on research and development (R&D) keeps growing rapidly.

The country's spending on R&D climbed 14.2 percent to 2.79 trillion RMB in 2021, according to preliminary estimates of the National Bureau of Statistics.

Owing to the country's steady economic recovery and increasing innovation momentum, this figure has continued to register double digit growth since 2016, said Zhang Qilong, a statistician at the bureau, adding that the growth rate is well over the target set by the 14th Five-Year Plan.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the country's R&D spending is expected to grow by more than seven percent annually.

With a net annual increment of 347 billion RMB in 2021, China has become a major force driving the growth of global R&D spending. Since the turn of the millennium, it has overtaken Germany and Japan to become the world's second largest R&D spender.

Jiuzhang quantum computer model at 2021 Quantum Industry Conference. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

In terms of R&D investment intensity, the ratio of its R&D expenditure to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached 2.44 percent in 2021, an increase of 0.03 percentage point over the previous year, according to the statistics.

The number is a record high for China's R&D investment intensity, said Zhang, adding that 2.44 percent is close to the pre-pandemic average level of OECD, 2.47 percent.

Furthermore, the spending on basic research rose 15.6 percent to 169.6 billion RMB, 1.4 percentage points faster than the overall R&D spending.

China's investment in basic research has rebounded to double digit growth in 2021, said Zhang, adding that as the source of sci-tech innovation, basic research is high on the nation's agenda, with new breakthroughs made in a number of original innovation fields, such as space exploration, nuclear physics, quantum science and biological engineering.

The proportion of basic research to total R&D expenditure stood at 6.09 percent in 2021, an increase of 0.08 percentage point over the previous year.

The figure has surpassed six percent for the third year running since 2019, gradually closing the gap with the level of advanced countries.

China vows to boost basic research spending to record eight percent of R&D expenditure during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, according to the goals set by the 14th Five-Year Plan.

While maintaining a fast growth rate, China's spending on R&D still has room to improve in terms of scale, structure and efficiency, said Zhang, adding that the country will further accelerate the implementation of relevant policies and improve its investment mechanism so as to support sci-tech self-reliance and self-strengthening at higher levels.