BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's innovation capacity continued to strengthen last year, with the innovation environment improving and new growth drivers expanding, providing solid support for high-quality development, official data showed on Friday.
The country's innovation index stood at 185.5 in 2025, up 6.4 percent from a year earlier, according to an annual report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The sub-indices measuring the innovation environment, input, output and impact all kept rising last year.
The report noted that multiple indicators performed well, including the share of science and technology appropriations in government budget spending, business R&D spending as a share of operating revenue, R&D spending as a share of GDP, the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 R&D personnel, overall labor productivity, and high-tech products' share of goods exports.
In China, innovation is gathering pace across the board. From DeepSeek's global splash to humanoid robots that wowed audiences, China's scientific achievements have been translating rapidly into industrial applications. Artificial intelligence (AI), new energy and new materials are among the sectors maintaining strong growth momentum.
In the first three quarters of 2026, new drivers of growth, represented by high-end manufacturing, the digital and intelligent economy, and modern services, contributed more than 40 percent of China's economic growth.
"The rapid growth of new drivers is a standout feature of this year's economic performance," Mao Shengyong, an NBS spokesperson, said.
Separately, tax invoice data released by the State Taxation Administration on Friday also revealed that industries tied to new growth drivers have expanded faster this year, with those related to AI picking up speed especially quickly.
In the third quarter of 2026, sales revenue of core industries of the digital economy, and patent-intensive industries rose 9.9 percent and 14.4 percent year on year, respectively, a clear acceleration from the second quarter, the tax data showed. Sales in the integrated circuits and semiconductor equipment manufacturing sectors surged 77.9 percent and 35.9 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.
Innovation has long held an important place in China's development strategy. The latest major step comes as the guidelines on developing new quality productive forces were released earlier this month, spelling out the overall goals and key tasks for the 2026-2030 period.
As China actively cultivates future industries, expands emerging sectors and upgrades traditional ones, the momentum built through innovation is steadily converting into economic growth, experts said. ■
