China is to invest 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) in basic scientific research over the next three to five years, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) announced this week.
The investment, which fulfils promises made earlier this year by China’s minister of science and technology Xu Guanhua, will be used to fund research in 12 key areas.
Projects include the development of integrated circuits and computer software, electric vehicles, food security, new drugs, irrigation and the modernisation of traditional medicine. It is estimated that Chinese institutes and researchers will obtain more than 2,000 patents as a result of the initiative.
More than US$750 million of the funding will come directly from the Ministry of Finance, with the remaining US$1.8 billion from related ministries, local governments and businesses.
