Xi Jinping Calls for Enhanced R&D Efficiency as 2025 Intensity Reaches 2.8% and 2026 Budget Rises 10%
President Xi Jinping has called for greater efficiency in science and technology innovation investment, as China's R&D spending intensity reached 2.8% in 2025, exceeding the OECD average, and the central government's 2026 science and technology budget rose 10% to 426.42 billion yuan. Xi's remarks at a national awards ceremony also highlighted problems of idle funds, low-level duplication, and unbalanced resource allocation in some research areas.
In his speech at the National Science and Technology Awards Conference, the Conference of Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the 11th National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology, President Xi Jinping called for improving the efficacy of science and technology innovation investment.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China's total research and development expenditure maintained an average annual growth rate of 10%. By 2025, the R&D spending intensity rose to 2.8%, surpassing the OECD average for the first time. The central government's 2026 budget for science and technology expenditure is 426.42 billion yuan, an increase of 10% over the 2025 execution figure, higher than the average growth rate of central government spending.
Currently, some areas face problems such as idle and wasteful use of research funds, low-level duplication of research efforts, and unbalanced and decentralized allocation of resources.