UK Science and Innovation Network summary: China
Published 3 December 2024
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1. Science and Innovation Landscape
China’s science and innovation landscape has seen substantial growth over the last four decades. China is second to the US in terms of research and development spending (adjusted by purchasing power parity). China is home to 1.87m researchers – accounting for around 25% of the world’s research and development workforce. In 2023, China’s spent RMB (Renminbi) 3327.8 billion (over £367bn) on research and development, accounting for 2.64% of GDP. China is the world’s largest publisher of academic papers.
Within the Chinese Government, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), guided by the Central Commission on Science and Technology, leads science and technology policy. Other departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) are responsible for specific areas of science and technology policy or delivery. The National Natural Science Foundation of China is the main research funder in China. China’s 14th Five Year Plan, covering 2021 – 2025 emphasises the centrality of science and technology development.
China has a large number of research institutions and universities. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is the world’s largest research institution. Seven Chinese universities are ranked among the top 100 Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2024: Tsinghua University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, University of Science and Technology of China, and Nanjing University.
China overtook the US as the world’s largest producer of scientific articles in 2022. In 2023, 3.1% of China’s output fell within the top 1% citation percentile worldwide (compared to 2.6% for the UK and 1.9% for the US), showing a consistent upward trend in citation impact.
2. UK partnership with China on ST&I
The UK’s Integrated Review Refresh (2023) outlined the importance that the UK engages China in areas of shared interests. This includes through science and research collaboration that addresses transnational challenges, in areas such as climate change and global health security.
China is the UK’s second-largest research collaborator by joint-publication, and UK–China collaboration constitutes a growing share of the UK’s total research output.
Through collaboration with China’s leading funding agencies, since 2007 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has facilitated joint research and innovation programmes with China representing 804 individual projects with £440 million UKRI funding matched by China, engaging over 3,500 research organisations.
The UK and China have supported joint calls for research in areas including healthy ageing and epidemic preparedness.
China is a major player in a number of multilateral research and innovation initiatives, including Mission Innovation and the Square Kilometre Array Observatory.
3. SIN contacts
Science and Technology, British Embassy Beijing
Email: beijing.science@fdco.gov.uk