Enterprises are the main force driving R&D funding growth. In terms of international comparison, the level of Chinese enterprises' R&D spending as a proportion of society as a whole is close to that of the United States (79.0%) and Japan (79.4%), and higher than that of Germany (67.4%), France (65.8%) and other European countries. However, it is mainly higher education institutions and government-owned research institutes that are the main force in carrying out basic research activities in China, contributing 60.2 percent and 31.6 percent, respectively, to the growth of basic research funding in 2023.
On October 2, the National Bureau of Statistics released the “2023 National Science and Technology Funding Statistics Bulletin”, which shows that in 2023, China's total research and experimental development (R&D) funding exceeded 3.3 trillion yuan, reaching 3,335.71 billion yuan, an increase of 8.4% over the previous year, maintaining the trend of steady growth, of which the proportion of basic research investment reached 6.77%, the best level in history. In addition, R&D investment in the central, western and northeastern regions grew faster than that in the eastern region, accelerating the pace of catching up.
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China's total R&D funding exceeded 1 trillion yuan in 2012, 2 trillion yuan in 2019, and 3 trillion yuan in 2022, and the total R&D funding now ranks second in the world after the United States. “The investment in research and experimental development (R&D) funding continues to increase, providing a strong guarantee for China to accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance.” Zhang Qilong, a statistician at the Department of Social Science and Culture of the National Bureau of Statistics, said.
China's total R&D funding exceeded 1 trillion yuan in 2012, 2 trillion yuan in 2019, and 3 trillion yuan in 2022, and the total R&D funding now ranks second in the world after the United States. “The investment in research and experimental development (R&D) funding continues to increase, providing a strong guarantee for China to accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance.” Zhang Qilong, a statistician at the Department of Social Science and Culture of the National Bureau of Statistics, said.
From the input intensity, in 2023 China's R&D investment intensity (R&D funding to GDP ratio) of 2.65%, 0.09 percentage points higher than the previous year, the increase is greater than the “13th Five-Year Plan” since the average annual level of 0.02 percentage points, continue to improve the trend of faster. China's R&D investment intensity ranks 12th in the world, close to the average level of OECD countries (2.73%).
Sub-regionally, in 2023, China's eastern, central, western and northeastern R&D funding was 218.06 billion yuan, 607.08 billion yuan, 435.97 billion yuan and 111.60 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 7.8%, 9.2%, 10.0% and 8.8% over the previous year, with the growth rate of the central, western and northeastern regions being faster than that of the eastern region, and the pace of catching up being accelerated. Zhang Qilong introduced that in 2023, there were 12 provinces (municipalities directly under the central government) with R&D funding exceeding 100 billion yuan, and 7 provinces (municipalities directly under the central government) with investment intensity exceeding the national average, all of which were at the same level as the previous year. And the number of provinces (municipalities directly under the central government) with R&D funding exceeding 200 billion yuan reached six, one more than the previous year.
Enterprises are the main force driving R&D funding growth. In terms of international comparison, the level of Chinese enterprises' R&D spending as a proportion of society as a whole is close to that of the United States (79.0%) and Japan (79.4%), and higher than that of Germany (67.4%), France (65.8%) and other European countries.
However, it is mainly government-owned higher education institutions and research institutes that are the main force in carrying out basic research activities in China, contributing 60.2 percent and 31.6 percent, respectively, to the growth in basic research funding in 2023, with growth in basic research investment in centrally owned higher education institutions of 20.1 percent, higher than the national average by 8.5 percentage points.
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