China’s spending on research and development could reach $279 billion for 2017

Beijing. February 28. Silkroadnews - China’s spending on research and development could reach $1.76 trillion yuan (about $279 billion) for 2017, which is 70.9% increase compared to 2012, said Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang, the newspaper Global Times wrote.
According to the minister, China ranks the second in the number of published scientific works and citations and also leads in number of patents for inventions and invention patent applications.
China took the 17th place in the national innovation index report by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development (CASTED) in 2017, rising from the 20th place in 2012.
The country’s strategy of innovation development has significantly improved the people’s livelihood in past years, the minister said.
China seeks to increase its annual expenditure on research and development to 500,000 yuan per capita by 2020 from 370,000 yuan in 2014, according to the 13th five-year national plan for the development of science and technology for 2016-2020.