According to a report recently released by the NSF, China is positioned to become the world leader in science and innovation by 2050. Although the US still leads in scientific activity, the country’s share of contributions is declining compared to China. The number of science and technology graduates in China is rising at an unprecedented rate, faster than in any other country, and China’s R&D expenditures trail only behind the US. For example, in 2015, the US’ R&D expenditures totaled $496 billion for a share of 26% of the world’s total; in comparison, China’s 2015 R&D expenditures totaled $409 billion, 21% of the world’s total. Between 2000 and 2015, China’s R&D expenditure grew 18% per year; in contrast, the US’ R&D expenditure grew only 4.2%.

In a set of guidelines released by China’s State Council at the end of January, the Chinese government plans to invest in the construction of new state laboratories for moonshot research, to focus on training young scientists and to increase collaborations with international scientists. The guidelines stated that support for basic science is imperative to reach these goals.

Source: *Research