2024: Breakthroughs in China (8)

Scientific research: Strong innovation momentum

R&D investment has exceeded 3.3 trillion yuan.

According to Communiqué on National Expenditures on Science and Technology in 2023, China's total research and experimental development (R&D) expenditure in 2023 has reached 3.34 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.4 percent compared to the previous year.

China's total R&D expenditure surpassed 1 trillion yuan in 2012, 2 trillion yuan in 2019, and 3 trillion yuan in 2022. Currently, China's total R&D expenditure ranks as the world's second-largest, with only the United States ahead.

In terms of investment intensity, China's R&D expenditure intensity (R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP) was 2.65 percent in 2023, an increase of 0.09 percentage points from the previous year, rising faster than the annual average increase of 0.02 percentage points since the 13th Five-Year Plan.

The proportion of R&D expenditure by Chinese enterprises in total social expenditure is close to that of the United States (79 percent) and Japan (79.4 percent), and higher than that of Germany (67.4 percent) and France (65.8 percent) among European countries, providing strong support for innovation-driven development.