The growth rate of R&D funds in the central and western regions of China has surpassed that in the eastern region for four consecutive years, and the catch-up trend is obvious.

　　CCTV News:Yesterday (September 22nd), the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the Statistical Bulletin on National Science and Technology Investment in 2020. According to the Bulletin, in 2020, China’s research and experimental development, that is, R&D investment, reached a new high, and the investment intensity continued to increase.

　　According to the data in the Bulletin, in 2020, the total R&D expenditure in China exceeded 2.4 trillion yuan, reaching 2,439.31 billion yuan, an increase of 224.95 billion yuan or 10.2% over the previous year, which continued the double-digit growth trend since the 13th Five-Year Plan. However, due to the COVID-19 epidemic and other factors, the growth rate dropped by 2.3 percentage points.

　　Specifically, the pulling role of enterprises has been further enhanced. In 2020, the R&D expenditure of enterprises was 1,867.38 billion yuan, an increase of 10.4% over the previous year; It accounts for 76.6% of the national R&D expenditure and contributes 77.9% to the national growth, up by 0.2 and 9.4 percentage points respectively over the previous year, which further strengthens the pulling effect.

　　From a regional perspective, the number of provinces with R&D expenditure exceeding 100 billion yuan reached 8, an increase of 2 over the previous year. The R&D expenditure in the eastern, central and western regions of China was 1,651.73 billion yuan, 466.29 billion yuan and 321.29 billion yuan, respectively, up by 9.2%, 12% and 12.4% over the previous year. The growth rate of the central and western regions exceeded that of the eastern regions for four consecutive years, and the catch-up situation was obvious. The growth rate of R&D funds in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Yangtze River Delta regions is faster than the national average.

　　From the international comparison, in 2020, China’s total R&D expenditure is about 54% of that of the United States, 2.1 times that of Japan, ranking second in the world. Among the major economies in the world, China’s R&D investment intensity level has increased from the 16th place in the world in 2016 to the 12th place.