Communiqué on National Expenditures on Science and Technology in 2021

Communiqué on National Expenditures on Science and Technology in 2021 [1]

National Bureau of Statistics

Ministry of Science and Technology

Ministry of Finance

August 31, 2022

In 2021, China's research and experimental development (R&D) funding continued to maintain a rapid growth, the state's fiscal expenditure on science and technology increased steadily, the intensity of R&D investment continued to increase, and the proportion of basic research increased significantly.

I. Research and Experimental Development (R & D) Expenditures

In 2021, a total of 2,795.63 billion yuan was invested in R&D across the country, an increase of 356.32 billion yuan over the previous year, an increase of 14.6 percent, and an increase of 4.4 percentage points over the previous year; the investment intensity of R&D) funds (ratio to GDP [2]) was 2.44 percent, an increase of 0.03 percentage point over the previous year [3]. The per capita expenditure calculated according to the full-time workload of R&D personnel was 489,000 yuan, an increase of 23,000 yuan over the previous year.

According to the types of activities, the national basic research fund was 181.7 billion yuan, an increase of 23.9 percent over the previous year; the applied research fund was 314.54 billion yuan, an increase of 14.1 percent; the experimental development fund was 2,299.59 billion yuan, an increase of 14.0 percent. The proportion of basic research funds was 6.50 percent, a significant increase of 0.49 percentage point over the previous year; the proportion of applied research and experimental development funds was 11.3 and 82.3 percent respectively.

From the perspective of activity subjects, the R&D funds of various enterprises were 2,150.41 billion yuan, an increase of 15.2 percent over the previous year; the funding for government affiliated research institutions was 371.79 billion yuan, an increase of 9.1 percent; the funding for institutions of higher learning was 218.05 billion yuan, an increase of 15.8 percent. The proportion of funds for enterprises, government affiliated research institutions and institutions of higher learning was 76.9, 13.3 and 7.8 percent respectively.

From the perspective of industrial departments, the R&D fund of high-tech manufacturing industry was 568.46 billion yuan, and the input intensity (ratio to operating income) was 2.71 percent, an increase of 0.05 percentage point over the previous year. Among the industrial enterprises above designated size, there were 5 industries with R&D expenditure of more than 100 billion yuan, and the expenditure of these 5 industries accounts for 51.2 percent of the R&D expenditure of all industrial enterprises above designated size (see Table 1 for details).

In terms of regions, there are 11 provinces (cities) that have invested more than 100 billion yuan in R&D, including Guangdong (400.22 billion yuan), Jiangsu (343.86 billion yuan), Beijing (262.93 billion yuan), Zhejiang (215.77 billion yuan), Shandong (194.47 billion yuan), Shanghai (181.98 billion yuan), Sichuan (121.45 billion yuan), Hubei (116.02 billion yuan), Hunan (102.89 billion yuan) Henan (101.88 billion yuan) and Anhui (100.61 billion yuan). There were 6 provinces (municipalities) whose R&D investment intensity (ratio to GDP [4]) exceeded the national average level, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang (see Table 2 for details).

II. S&T Funds Allocated by Finance

In 2021, the state's fiscal expenditure on science and technology was 1,076.67 billion yuan, an increase of 67.17 billion yuan over the previous year, an increase of 6.7 percent. Among them, the central financial expenditure on science and technology was 379.49-billion-yuan, accounting for 35.2 percent of the national financial expenditure on science and technology; the local fiscal expenditure on science and technology was 697.18 billion yuan, accounting for 64.8 percent.

Note:

1. The statistical scope of financial science and technology expenditure in this table is the science and technology projects arranged by public financial expenditure.

2. The growth rate of science and technology expenditure in 2021 is the same as that after adjustment.

Appendix I 　 Expenditures in R&D of Industrial Enterprises Above Designed Size by Sectors in 2021

Notes:

[1] All statistical data in this bulletin do not include Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan Province. Due to rounding of some data, there are differences between total and subtotal.

[2] GDP in 2021 is the preliminary accounting data.

[3] According to the final verification data of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, the investment intensity of research and experimental development (R&D) funds in 2020 has been revised to 2.41 percent.

[4] The regional GDP in 2021 is the preliminary accounting data.

Annotations:

1. Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators

Expenditures on Research and Development (R&D): refers to the actual expenditures spent in basic researches, applied researches and experimental development by the whole society within statistical year. Including personnel fees, material costs, purchasing and construction fees of fixed assets, management fees and other expenses that actually spent in R&D activities.

Basic Research refers to empirical or theoretical research aiming at obtaining new knowledge on the fundamental principles regarding phenomena or observable facts to reveal the intrinsic nature and underlying laws and to acquire new discoveries or new theories. Basic research takes no specific or designated application as the aim of the research.

Applied Research refers to creative research aiming at obtaining new knowledge on a specific objective or target. Purpose of the applied research is to identify the possible uses of results from basic research, or to explore new (fundamental) methods or new approaches.

Experimental Development refer to systematic activities aiming at using the knowledge from basic and applied researches or from practical experience to develop new products, materials and equipment, to establish new production process, systems and services, or to make substantial improvement on the existing products, process or services.

2. Statistical Coverage

R&D expenditure statistics covered all enterprises and institutions with R&D activities in the whole society, including research institutions subordinated to the government departments, universities, and enterprises and institutions in the industries with relatively intensive R&D activities (including agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, mining, manufacturing, production and supply of electricity, gas and water, construction, transportation, storage and postal industries, information transmission, software and information technical services, finance, rent and business services, scientific research and technical services, water conservancy, environment, and public facilities management industry, health and social affairs, culture, sports and entertainment, etc.).

3. Survey Methods

Research and experimental development (R&D) funds are investigated by industrial enterprises above designated scale, special and first-class construction enterprises, service enterprises above designated scale (including transportation, warehousing and postal services, information transmission, software and information technology services, leasing and business services, scientific research and technology services, water conservancy, environment and public facilities management, health and social work, culture, sports and entertainment). Government affiliated research institutions (government affiliated independent legal person scientific research and technology development institutions, scientific and technological information and literature institutions, etc.) and other non-enterprise legal entities in the scientific research and technology service industry, universities and affiliated hospitals adopt comprehensive investigation; Industrial enterprises and service enterprises below designated scale adopt sampling survey and calculation; Enterprises related to scientific research and breeding and class III A hospitals that are not within the statistical scope of the science and technology and education departments use key surveys to obtain; Enterprises and institutions in other industries use the second national R&D resource inventory data calculation and other methods.