China Sets Huge R&D Budget Boost

Much of China’s boost, revealed in an announcement at a trade fair last month that has received little publicity, will go to applied research. The government plans to spend $4.8 billion on 16 special S&T projects, including software development, infectious disease research, and a homegrown commercial airplane industry. Such funding levels for individual S&T projects are unprecedented, says Zhao Wang, director of the Institute of Natural Medicine at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The new push complements an initiative unveiled in February by China’s State Council: a “key industrial adjustment and revive plan” to lend a helping hand to corporate R&D. Major initiatives include emissions reductions, semiconductor-based lighting, and energy-saving vehicles. Demonstration projects will be organized in 13 cities. China also plans to speed up development of high-tech clusters, such as the Zhongguancun Life Science Park in Beijing.

Some scientists are skeptical about the budget bonanza’s likely impact. China’s science spending “is just so much less than America,” says neuroscientist Guosong Liu of the School of Medicine at Tsinghua University. And it is skewed too far toward applied research, he says.