BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will strengthen basic research, tackle core technologies and speed up the industrial application of research results during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) to better support high-quality development, officials of the Ministry of Science and Technology said on Tuesday.
At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, Minister of Science and Technology Yin Hejun said China's total R&D spending exceeded 3.92 trillion yuan (about 582 billion U.S. dollars) in 2025, or 2.8 percent of GDP. This amount exceeded the average among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members for the first time.
China has ranked first in the world for many consecutive years in international patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and in papers published in high-level international journals, Yin said.
China ranks ninth among 60 countries in overall national innovation capability, according to the National Innovation Index Report 2025 released by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development.
Looking ahead, basic research will be organized in areas such as mathematical theory and applications, control of states of matter, synthetic biology, the materials genome, controlled nuclear fusion and intelligent scientist systems, Yin said.
He also called for faster application of artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific research to lead a shift in how research is carried out.
Paramount core technologies are another important priority, Yin said. China will push for progress along the entire innovation chain in key fields such as integrated circuits, machine tools and high-end instruments, and step up R&D in frontier technologies including AI, quantum technology, biotechnology and brain-computer interfaces.
Sci-tech innovation should also deliver more quality products and services that improve people's well-being, he said, with tasks laid out in areas including environmental pollution control, resource recycling, agricultural biological breeding, innovative drug development, high-end medical equipment and responses to population aging.
On turning research results into real-world productivity, Zhang Guangjun, vice minister of science and technology, said China will break the stereotype of producing results first and considering their application later on. Policies will instead direct research to where demand lies and ensure that results, once achieved, can be put to use, so that scientific and industrial innovation are planned in tandem and support one another, he said.
Zhang also called for stronger enterprise-led collaboration among industry, universities and research institutes, with innovation resources such as projects, platforms, data, talent and funding channeled to enterprises. Proof-of-concept and pilot-scale testing platforms will be built to help technologies mature and upgrade faster, he said.
Venture capital has played a vital role, with investors increasingly backing early-stage and small companies, taking a long-term view and focusing on hard technology, said Qiu Yong, vice minister of science and technology. New funds raised in the equity investment market exceeded 1 trillion yuan in the first half of 2026, up 49 percent year on year, he said, citing statistics from relevant institutions.
Universities are adjusting their disciplines to meet urgent national needs, he said.
China will continue to build Beijing and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Shanghai and the wider Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into international sci-tech innovation centers, Yin said. The three centers account for 58.8 percent of the country's R&D spending and 81.1 percent of its PCT international patent applications, and are helping drive innovation in surrounding provinces and municipalities and across the country.
R&D spending in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has reached 4.48 percent of regional GDP, with major sci-tech achievements emerging in fields such as AI and biomanufacturing, Yin said.
The Yangtze River Delta accounts for nearly 30 percent of the country's basic research spending, with corporate spending on basic research up 38.3 percent year on year in 2025. It has witnessed key breakthroughs in areas such as integrated circuits and quantum technology, he said.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area draws on Guangdong's industrial innovation strengths and the science and education resources of Hong Kong and Macao, Yin said. Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have jointly built 35 laboratories, and produced 14,000 papers under international collaboration. ■
