BEIJING, FEB 9 :? China on Thursday unveiled an ambitious blueprint to become an ‘innovative nation’ in the next 15 years and a world power in the science and technology field by investing up to 2.5% of the GDP in research and development.

By 2020, China’s entire investment in research and development (R&D) is expected to top 2.5% of the GDP, while progress in the scientific field will contribute 60% and above to the country’s development, the government said.

The national guideline on medium- and long-term programme for science and technology development (2006-2020), which was published by the state council, China’s cabinet, said that the country’s reliance on foreign technology will decline to 30% and below.

The number of patents granted to Chinese nationals and the introduction of their academic essays are expected to rank among the first five in the world, it said.After 15 years of efforts, China will reach eight targets in the field of science and technology.The document says that China will reform the current scientific and technological management system and combine and coordinate the military and civilian research organisations in order to promote its scientific development.

China will develop a number of frontier technologies which are expected to play a guiding role in the development of science and technology, in a bid to increase its research capabilities in high technology and international competitiveness of industries.

The country will expedite the implementation of a national strategy on intellectual property right (IPR), bringing the IPR management into the whole process of scientific and technological management.

The government will give priority to technological development in 11 major sectors such as energy and water resources, in the coming 15 years, in order to resolve some outstanding problems bottlenecking the country’s economic and social development, the document said.China will adopt preferential banking policies for promoting innovation and start-up of businesses, so as to create more conveniences for high-tech companies to go public.The government will remarkably increase investment in science and technology in the coming 15 years. PTI

The investment in research and development (R&D) will account for two per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010, and 2.5% of GDP in 2020, says the guideline.

Basic research has become part of the international competition of overall national strength. As a rapidly developing country, China must put the emphasis on basic research in order to achieve national goals and solve key problems which would appear in the future.

The Chinese government made public a document today on reaffirming its resolution to build up an innovation-oriented country in the next 15 years.

China announced that it plans to speed up the pace of research on 16 special, key technologies, so as to deal with a number of problems of importance and urgency for the country’s strategic fields like information, biology, resources and health as well as some technologies that could be applicable for both military and civilian use.

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