China prioritises research spending despite economic downturn

China will boost research spending, with higher government investment partially making up for cuts by local authorities and businesses as the country’s economy wavers.

The central government intends to increase spending on science and technology by 10 per cent in 2024 to 370 billion yuan (£40 billion) as part of a plan for “rejuvenating” the country after a period of economic downturn.

Speaking at the annual National People’s Congress, premier Li Qiang set out the budget for the year ahead, which will see China continue to move towards “self-reliance” in science and technology.

“Achieving technological self-sufficiency is a top priority for the Chinese government and raising research expenditures is a key part of this strategy,” said Camille Boullenois, associate director at the Rhodium Group, a research organisation. “But the Chinese government is heavily constrained by slowing fiscal revenues and cannot increase spending as much as it would want to.”

Funding for research will increase by 13 per cent to 98 billion yuan, consistent with China’s long-term investments in this area. Mr Qiang also said he wanted to promote “support for the reform and development of high-level research universities”.

However, as China’s economy struggles, experts suggest that the central government might be filling in gaps from investment lost elsewhere.

“A 10 per cent increase in the central science and technology budget is impressive, and it’s a much faster growth than in previous years,” said Dr Boullenois. “But we also have to keep in mind that local governments, which have been driving much of the growth in China’s science and technology budget in the past decade, have been under great fiscal difficulties.”

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau, head of the science, technology and innovation programme at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, added that some businesses in China had cut their research and development budgets as the economy faltered.

And, while China’s research output has grown significantly in recent years, with investment levels exceeding those of the European Union and approaching parity with the US, questions remain around how much of this actually translates into industrial capabilities.

The government based subsidies partially on research output indicators such as patents and publication volumes, giving researchers “an incentive to inflate”, said Dr Groenewegen-Lau. Now, he said, China wanted to move “from quantity to quality”.

This news comes as its academic and scientific collaborations face increasing scrutiny from Western nations concerned about foreign interference and espionage.

Dr Groenewegen-Lau suggested that increased research spending was linked to “national concerns” including US containment and declining access to core technologies.

But Caroline Wagner, professor of public policy at Ohio State University, said China continued “to build on foreign expertise and foreign direct investment, even if this has slowed somewhat”.

“With its increasing financial investments in research and development, China has built a high-level capacity to engage in the global science system. China has boosted its capacity to produce and absorb new knowledge quickly,” she said.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com