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China spends $160bn on R&D
January 21, 2013, 8:58 am

[Xinhua]

[Xinhua]

According to new official statistics, China’s spending on research and development (R&D) in 2012 is expected to surpass 1 trillion yuan (160.8 billion US dollars).

China has been pushing for a more innovation-driven economy.

The expenditure will bring the proportion of R&D funds in the country’s gross domestic output (GDP) to 2 per cent, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said at a national science and technology work conference.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has outlined that China needs to realise a growth pattern driven by innovation.

He was speaking at a ceremony held to honour distinguished scientists and research achievements.

Businesses invested the most in R&D, accounting for 74 per cent of the total, according to official statistics.

According to China’s national science and technology development plan, the country aims to build itself into an ‘innovative country’ by 2020, where scientific progress will contribute to approximately 60 per cent of the it’s economic growth.

Wan said that China’s innovation capability has been greatly boosted in the past five years, with scientific progress contributing 51.7 per cent to the nation’s economic growth in 2011, compared with 48.8 per cent in 2008.

Source: Agencies