Communiqué on National Expenditures on Science and Technology in 2023

Communiqué on National Expenditures on Science and Technology in 2023[1]

National Bureau of Statistics of China

Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China

Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China

October 2, 2024

In 2023, China's domestic expenditures on research and experimental development (R&D) saw consistent and robust growth, with a marked rise in R&D intensity. Significant progress was achieved in funding for basic research, while the national fiscal expenditures on science and technology advanced steadily.

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

In 2023, a total of 3,335.71 billion yuan was invested in R&D across the country, an increase of 257.42 billion yuan over the previous year, marking a growth rate of 8.4 percent; the R&D intensity (as a proportion of gross domestic product, GDP[2]) came in at 2.65 percent, an increase of 0.09 percentage point over the previous year[3]. The per capita expenditure on R&D personnel calculated in full-time equivalent was 461,000 yuan.

In terms of types of activities, the funding for basic research was 225.91 billion yuan nationwide, an increase of 11.6 percent over the previous year; that for applied research was 366.15 billion yuan, an increase of 5.1 percent; that for experimental development was 2,743.65 billion yuan, an increase of 8.5 percent. The proportion of funding for basic research was 6.77 percent, an increase of 0.2 percentage point over the previous year; the proportion of funding for applied research and experimental development was 11.0 and 82.2 percent respectively.

In terms of activity entities, the expenditures on R&D by various enterprises were 2,592.22 billion yuan, an increase of 8.6 percent over the previous year; that by government-affiliated research institutions was 385.63 billion yuan, an increase of 1.1 percent; that by higher education institutions was 275.33 billion yuan, an increase of 14.1 percent; that by other entities was 82.53 billion yuan, an increase of 21.8%. The proportions of expenditures on R&D by enterprises, government-affiliated research institutions, and higher education institutions were 77.7 percent, 11.6 percent, and 8.3 percent respectively.

In terms of regions, there were 12 provinces (municipalities) that invested over 100 billion yuan in R&D, including Guangdong (480.26 billion yuan), Jiangsu (421.23 billion yuan), Beijing (294.71 billion yuan), Zhejiang (264.02 billion yuan), Shandong (238.60 billion yuan), Shanghai (204.96 billion yuan), Hubei (140.82 billion yuan), Sichuan (135.78 billion yuan), Hunan (128.39 billion yuan), Anhui (126.47 billion yuan), Henan (121.17 billion yuan) and Fujian (117.17 billion yuan). There were 7 provinces (municipalities) surpassed the national average in R&D intensity (as a proportion of gross regional domestic product, GRDP[4]), listed in order as follows: Beijing (6.73 percent), Shanghai (4.34 percent), Tianjin (3.58 percent), Guangdong (3.54 percent), Jiangsu (3.29 percent), Zhejiang (3.20 percent), and Anhui (2.69 percent).

Table 1  Expenditures on Research and Experimental Development (R&D) by Region in 2023

II. Science and Technology Funds Allocated by Finance

In 2023, China’s fiscal expenditures on science and technology were 1,199.58 billion yuan, an increase of 86.74 billion yuan over the previous year, marking a growth rate of 7.8 percent. Among them, the central fiscal expenditures on science and technology were 379.31 billion yuan, accounting for 33.1 percent of the national fiscal expenditures on science and technology; the local fiscal expenditures on science and technology were 802.27 billion yuan, accounting for 66.9 percent.

Table 2  Fiscal Expenditures on Science and Technology in 2023

Note:

[1] All statistical data in this Communiqué do not include Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan Province. The data on R&D expenditures by industrial enterprises and high technology manufacturing enterprises above the designated size for this year will be released in the fifth national economic census data report. Due to the rounding-off reasons, the subentries may not add up to the aggregate totals.

[2] The GDP in 2023 is based on preliminary accounting data.

[3] According to the final verification data on GDP for 2022, the R&D intensity in 2022 has been revised to 2.56 percent.

[4] The GRDP in 2023 is based on preliminary accounting data.

Annotations:

1. Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators

Expenditures on research and experimental development (R&D) refers to the actual expenditures spent in basic researches, applied researches and experimental development by the whole society within statistical year. Research and experimental development (R&D) refers to the creative and systematic work conducted to increase the knowledge stock (including knowledge related to humanity, culture, and society) and to design new applications of existing knowledge, which encompasses three types of basic research, applied research, and experimental development. The scale and intensity of R&D are widely used internationally to reflect the scientific and technological strength and core competitiveness of a country.

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, which takes no specific or designated application as the aim of the research.

Applied research refers to initial research aiming at obtaining new knowledge on a specific objective or target. Purpose of the applied research is to identify the potential uses of fundamental research findings from basic research, or to determine new methods for achieving specific and predetermined goals.

Experimental development refers to systematic researches 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

The statistics on R&D expenditures covered all enterprises and institutions engaged in R&D activities across society, including research institutions subordinated to the government departments, universities and college, and enterprises and institutions in the industries with relatively intensive R&D activities (including agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, mining, manufacturing, production and supply of electricity, heat power, gas and water, construction, transport, storage and post, information transmission, software and information technology services, financial intermediation, leasing and business services, scientific research and technical services, water conservancy, environment and public facilities management, health and social service, culture, sports and entertainment, etc.)

3. Survey Methods

The methods for surveying expenditures on R&D are structured as follows: the comprehensive investigation are conducted for industrial enterprises above the designated size, specialized and first-class construction enterprises, and service enterprises above the designated size (engaged in transport, storage and post, information transmission, software and information technology services, leasing and business services, scientific research and technical services, water conservancy, environment and public facilities management, health and social service, and culture, sports and entertainment), government-affiliated research institutions (government-affiliated independent legal 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; the sampling survey and calculation are conducted for industrial enterprises and service enterprises below the designated size; the targeted survey are conducted for enterprises involved in scientific research and breeding and Grade III A hospitals that fall outside the scope of the statistics in the sci-tech and education sectors; the second national R&D resource inventory data calculation and other methods are available for enterprises and institutions in other industries.