The National Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Finance recently released the "2021 Statistical Bulletin of National Science and Technology Funding Investment", showing that my country's entire society's R&D investment reached a record high of 2.8 trillion yuan last year, an increase of 14.6% over the previous year.
What are the highlights of my country's investment in science and technology?
How much room for improvement is there?
High investment promotes economic development
"The communique shows that my country's R&D investment has grown rapidly, with high intensity and stable structure," said Xuan Zhaohui, director of the Institute of Technology Forecasting and Statistical Analysis of the China Academy of Science and Technology Development Strategy.
The total amount of research and development expenditure in my country has grown rapidly, with an average annual growth rate of 12.2% from 2011 to 2020, and a growth rate of 14.6% last year.
Among the research and development funds, the growth rate of basic research investment is particularly fast. Last year, the national basic research funds reached 181.7 billion yuan, an increase of 23.9% over the previous year. Compared with the average annual growth rate of 15.2% in basic research investment from 2011 to 2020, the increase is more prominent.
As the world's second largest R&D spending economy, China has maintained double-digit growth in R&D investment for six consecutive years, making an important contribution to the growth of global R&D spending.
The intensity of R&D investment (that is, the ratio of R&D investment to GDP) not only reflects a country's financial support for R&D activities, but also reflects the level of economic transformation and upgrading and high-quality development to a large extent.
China's R&D spending intensity increased from 1.91% in 2012 to 2.44% last year.
This level ranks first among developing countries, higher than the EU average (2.2%), and slightly lower than the OECD country average (2.68%).
"The investment intensity of 2.44% ranks 13th in the world, surpassing France (2.35%), the United Kingdom (1.71%) and other countries." Xuan Zhaohui believes that this shows that my country's R&D investment intensity has reached the level of an innovative country.
From the perspective of the main body of activities, the proportion of funds of enterprises, government-affiliated research institutions, and colleges and universities is 76.9%, 13.3% and 7.8% respectively.
Last year, the scale of corporate R&D expenditure exceeded 2 trillion yuan, which has become the leading force in ensuring the growth of R&D expenditure in the whole society.
In terms of different industrial sectors, the R&D expenditure of high-tech manufacturing was 568.46 billion yuan, and the investment intensity (the ratio of R&D expenditure to operating income) was 2.71%, an increase of 0.05 percentage points over the previous year.
Among the industrial enterprises above designated size, there are 5 major categories of industries that have invested more than 100 billion yuan in research and development funds, and their investment accounted for 51.2%.
The five industries that have invested more than 100 billion yuan in research and development are: computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, general equipment manufacturing, and special equipment manufacturing.
"The formation of an investment structure with enterprises as the main body is conducive to the steady improvement of my country's comprehensive innovation capabilities. The investment intensity of high-tech manufacturing is high, and the five industries with an investment of over 100 billion yuan belong to high-tech and medium-high-tech industries. Looking at R&D from the industry The investment structure is also stable and reasonable." Xuan Zhaohui said.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country's R&D expenditure has maintained a rapid growth trend.
"Science and technology innovation is increasingly driving economic and social development, effectively supporting the construction of a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development." said Liu Huifeng, a researcher at the Institute of Technology Forecasting and Statistical Analysis, China Academy of Science and Technology Development Strategy.
Local government spending on science and technology has grown rapidly
According to the communique, the R&D investment intensity of six provinces including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang exceeds the national average level.
The number of provinces with R&D expenditure exceeding 100 billion yuan increased by 3 compared with the previous year, reaching 11. The top 3 are Guangdong (400.22 billion yuan), Jiangsu (343.86 billion yuan), Beijing (262.93 billion yuan), followed by Zhejiang, Shandong, Shanghai, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Henan and Anhui.
"The construction of regional innovation highlands has achieved remarkable results, and the construction of international science and innovation centers has reached a new level." Liu Huifeng believes that Guangdong, Jiangsu, Beijing, and Zhejiang have invested more than 200 billion yuan. From an international perspective, the scale of R&D funding in these regions is close to Or more than some developed countries in Europe and America.
Compared with the previous year, the R&D expenditures in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong increased by 13%, 12.6% and 15% respectively. The demonstration and leading role of the three major international science and technology innovation centers in Beijing, Shanghai and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been significantly enhanced.
In addition, the R&D investment of Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Anhui, Henan and other central and western provinces ranks among the "100 billion provinces", and the investment increase is more than 10%, which strongly supports the local exploration of unique innovation-driven development paths.
Xuan Zhaohui believes that from the perspective of R&D investment, the three economic circles of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta are commensurate with their economic and social development levels.
The Yangtze River Economic Belt has performed well. Among the 11 provinces that have invested over 100 billion yuan, 7 belong to the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Guangdong has invested the most among all provinces, exceeding 400 billion yuan.
The communique announced the state financial expenditure on science and technology.
Last year, the national fiscal expenditure on science and technology was 1,076.67 billion yuan, an increase of 67.17 billion yuan or 6.7% over the previous year.
Among them, the central government expenditure on science and technology is 379.49 billion yuan, accounting for 35.2% of the national financial science and technology expenditure; the local financial science and technology expenditure is 697.18 billion yuan, accounting for 64.8%.
"The scale and proportion of local financial science and technology expenditures have reached a record high." Liu Huifeng said that the national financial science and technology expenditures have remained above one trillion yuan for three consecutive years, which shows that governments at all levels attach importance to innovation-driven development.
Among the financial expenditures, the rapid growth of local financial science and technology expenditures shows that local governments are paying more and more attention to scientific and technological innovation, and are accelerating the transformation of the regional economic development model from factor-driven to innovation-driven.
Basic research should continue to be strengthened
Looking forward to the future, how can my country's R&D investment continue to improve quality and efficiency?
How much room for improvement is there in R&D investment?
"Although the scale of my country's R&D expenditure is second only to that of the United States, the gap with the United States is still relatively large. It is necessary to further expand the scale of R&D investment to support high-quality economic and social development." Xuan Zhaohui believes that my country's R&D investment is still very strong. potential.
R & D investment should not only continue to expand the scale, but also further optimize the structure.
The communique shows that the proportion of national basic research funding is 6.5%, an increase of 0.49 percentage points over the previous year; the proportion of applied research and experimental development funding is 11.3% and 82.3% respectively.
"my country's basic research funds account for 6.5% of R&D funds, and it has remained above 6% for three consecutive years. my country's investment in basic research funds ranks second in the world. This shows that we are paying more and more attention to basic research, and the structure of R&D investment continues to grow. Optimization." Liu Huifeng said that the proportion of basic research funding in the United States, Japan and Europe has basically remained between 12% and 23%, and China needs to accumulate and catch up for a long time if it is to be comparable. Continue to increase R&D investment in the whole society, optimize and adjust the investment structure, and greatly increase the proportion of basic research.”
"More companies should be encouraged to increase investment in basic research. At the same time, government departments should continue to increase investment in basic research and attract more social capital to invest in R&D activities." Xuan Zhaohui said that basic research accounted for only 0.5% of Chinese companies' R&D expenditures. In contrast, the proportion of European and American countries is generally more than 5%.
The basic research funding of Chinese enterprises has been hovering at a low level for a long time. If the investment structure of R&D funding cannot be optimized and adjusted, it will be unfavorable to solve the problem of key core technologies being controlled by others from the source.
She Huimin