China’s expenditure on R&D exceeds $495 billion in 2024, up 8.3% from 2023

R&D (Photo/Xinhua)

China's total expenditure on research and experimental development (R&D) exceeded 3.6 trillion yuan ($494.69 billion) in 2024, marking an 8.3 percent year-on-year increase, China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Thursday.

The R&D expenditure recorded a steady growth, ranking as the second-largest globally last year, the Beijing Daily reported on Thursday.

According to the latest data from the NBS, China's expenditure on R&D has steadily increased, with China's total expenditure on R&D surpassing 3.6 trillion yuan in 2024, an increase of 8.3 percent compared with the previous year, realizing a stable growth. The total investment remained the second-highest in the world.

The results have been achieved due to China's continuously improving policy system supporting scientific and technological innovations, the rapid establishment of a diversified investment framework, and the strengthened role of enterprises as key drivers of innovation, which collectively bolstered sustained R&D expenditure growth, according to the report.

Besides, the intensity of R&D investment continues to increase. Preliminary estimates show that in 2024, China's R&D investment intensity (the ratio of R&D expenditure to GDP) reached 2.68 percent, a 0.10 percentage point rise from the previous year. This growth rate is slightly higher than the average annual increase since China's 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), continuing its consistent upward trajectory.

Large-scale R&D investment forms a crucial foundation for driving invention, and achieving significant scientific and technological breakthroughs, while the growing intensity of R&D investment reflects China's enhanced capacity to support technological innovations at its source, Xuan Zhaohui, director of the Institute of Science and Technology Foresight and Statistics at the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, told the Global Times on Thursday.

From the perspective of international comparison, China's R&D investment intensity ranks 12th among the major countries worldwide, surpassing the average level of 2.11 percent in EU countries, and further approaching the average level of 2.73 percent for OECD countries.

In addition, China's investment in basic research has grown rapidly last year. In 2024, China's expenditure on basic research totaled 249.7 billion yuan, growing 10.5 percent year-on-year. This growth exceeded the overall R&D expenditure growth rate by 2.2 percentage points.

In recent years, China has attached great importance to basic research, achieving significant progress in the construction of major scientific facilities and large-scale scientific infrastructure. A number of groundbreaking achievements have been made in fields such as quantum science, life sciences, material sciences and space science.

The rapid growth of funding for basic research lays a strong foundation for generating high-quality, original and groundbreaking scientific and technological breakthroughs, Xuan said.

China's global innovation index rose to 11th place globally in 2024, cementing its position as one of the fastest-growing innovation-driven economies in the past decade, according to a report by gmw.cn.

In 2024, China issued 1.045 million new invention patents, up 13.5 percent year-on-year, and recorded 4.781 million trademark registrations, representing a 9.1 percent year-on-year growth. By the end of 2024, China had 14 high-value invention patents per 10,000 people, with the number of valid domestic invention patents totaling 4.756 million, becoming the first nation in the world to exceed 4 million, said the Xinhua News Agency, citing statistics released by the China National Intellectual Property Administration on January 15.

In 2024, China's R&D expenditure continued increase in investment intensity and the proportion allocated to basic research. This has laid a solid foundation for the development of a strong science and technology nation, the Beijing Daily reported.

In the next step, the country will foster the integration of technological and industrial innovations, encourage and guide all parties to continue increasing R&D investment, improve the multi-level funding system, enhance the efficiency of R&D fund utilization, and provide strong support for accelerating high-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening.