(Yicai) Sept. 18 -- China's expenditure on research and development last year exceeded the CNY3 trillion (USD411.5 billion) mark for the first time, reflecting the country’s innovation-driven economic growth strategy, according to the latest data.

China’s R&D spending surged 10.1 percent in 2022 from the year before to CNY3.1 trillion (USD425 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said today.

This accounted for 2.54 percent of the country’s gross domestic product of the same year, up from the previous year’s 2.43 percent, according to data issued by the NBS, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance.

It took eight years for China's R&D expenditure to increase from CNY1 trillion (USD137.4 billion) a year to CNY2 trillion, and only 4 years for it to climb from CNY2 trillion to CNY3 trillion, said Zhang Qilong, statistician of the NBS. This indicates the changes brought about by China's implementation of an innovation-driven economic development strategy in recent years.

Basic research funds soared 11.4 percent last year from the year before to CNY202.4 billion (USD27.8 billion), the NBS said. This made up 6.57 percent of total R&D investment, an increase of 0.07 percentage points from the previous year.

While applied research funds jumped 10.7 percent to CNY348.3 billion (USD47.7 billion), accounting for 11.3 percent of the total funds, and experimental development funds advanced 9.9 percent to CNY2.5 trillion, making up 82.1 percent of the total, it added.

The government will continue to improve the diversified investment of R&D funds, expand other policies such as tax reductions and exemption for R&D expenditure, and improve financial support systems including direct financing, Zhang added.

Editor: Kim Taylor