Li said China’s spending on research and development would increase by more than 7% a year between 2021 and 2025. R & D will account for a higher percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) than in the previous five years. He did not give details on how much the government would spend in absolute terms.
Chinese spending on R&D rose 10.3% to 2.44 billion Chinese yuan ($ 378 billion) and was 2.4% of GDP in 2020, according to official statistics.
Meanwhile, central government spending on basic research will increase by 10.6%, Li said.
The two sessions this year mark the beginning of China’s 14th five-year development plan, which sets out next year’s priorities and objectives. The current plan runs from 2021 to 2025.
In the past, the annual meeting of delegates oversaw major changes, including President Xi Jinping’s abolition of 2018 term limits.
In his report, Li set out the vision of China for the next five years.
“To improve China’s innovation system, we will work faster to improve our strategic scientific and technological capability supported by the development of national laboratories, strive to make major breakthroughs in key technologies in key fields, and a ten-year action plan. to formulate and implement for basic research, ‘he said.
According to the draft of its five-year plan, China will focus on the development of a number of technological areas, including semiconductors, healthcare, quantum computing and cloud computing.