BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- China has sent nearly 300,000 sci-tech experts to rural areas in poverty alleviation efforts, a Chinese official said Wednesday.

China has built 1,290 innovation and entrepreneurial platforms in poor areas and sent 289,800 sci-tech experts to rural areas since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Xu Nanping, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, told a press conference.

China has also invested more than 20 billion yuan (about 3.06 billion U.S. dollars) and implemented 37,600 scientific and technological projects to support poor areas to transform momentum of development, improve production efficiency and improve people's lives, Xu said.

The sci-tech experts working in rural areas have become a new force of poverty alleviation, Xu said, adding that China will further improve the system of sending sci-tech experts to rural areas.