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China’s ‘leapfrog period’ of rapid scientific achievement makes it an innovation powerhouse, says minister

  • ‘China has successfully entered the ranks of innovative countries,’ according to science and technology minister
  • Number of R&D workers in the nation rose from 3.25 million in 2012 to around 6 million in 2022

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Science and Technology Minister Wang Zhigang says China has seen “unprecedented growth in the capacity for science and technology innovation” over the past decade. Photo: Simon Song
Sylvie Zhuangin Beijing
The past decade has brought China its fastest ever growth in science and tech development, making it an innovation powerhouse, according to the science and technology minister.
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Wang Zhigang on Friday said it had been a “leapfrog period” for development with “unprecedented growth in the capacity for science and technology innovation”, and it was a driving force for productivity.

“China has successfully entered the ranks of innovative countries,” the minister said.

Wang’s remarks came in the same week President Xi Jinping called for robust basic research to boost China as a global science and technology power in a speech during a top party leadership session.
China rose from 34th to 11th in the latest Global Innovation Index (GII), a widely used annual ranking of countries based on their capacity for, and success in, innovation. The index is compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialised agency of the United Nations, and was published in September.

According to Wang, China’s innovation rankings boost could be attributed to skyrocketing investment in research and development over the past decade, having risen from 1 trillion yuan (US$145 billion) in 2012 to 3.09 trillion yuan in 2022.

The funding for basic research has also seen a substantial surge – from 49.9 billion yuan in 2012 to around 195.1 billion yuan in 2022 – with its share of total research and development funding rising from 4.8 per cent to 6.3 per cent.

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