Interpretation of 2022 China's Innovation Index by the National Bureau of Statistics: China Saw Continued Improvements in Innovation Development Level

      Recently, the Research of China Innovation Index research group of the Department of Social, Science and Technology and Cultural Statistics, National Bureau of Statistics, has further improved the compilation method of China Innovation Index and released the evaluation results. Li Yin, Principal Statistician of the Department of Social, Science and Technology and Cultural Statistics, National Bureau of Statistics, has interpreted the results.

       As the evaluation results show, China's innovation index reached 155.7 in 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 6.5% since 2015; Among them, the index of the proportion of enterprises enjoying additional tax deduction and exemption, the index of high-value invention patents ownership per 10,000 R&D personnel, and the index of the proportion of enterprises with registered trademarks, all achieved an average annual growth rate of more than 10%. Compared with 2021, China's innovation index increased by 5.9%, of which the index of the proportion of science and engineering graduates in the school-age population, the index of the proportion of enterprises enjoying additional tax deduction and exemption, the full-time equivalent index of R&D personnel per 10,000 people, the index of high-value invention patents ownership per 10,000 R&D personnel, and the index of the average amount of technology market transaction contracts achieved a growth rate of more than 10% in the current year. The trend of China's innovation index shows that China has seen continuous improvement in the level of innovation development, significant optimization of the innovation environment, steady growth in innovation investment, substantial increase in innovation output, further realization of innovation results, and increasing supportive and leading role in promoting high-quality development.

　　I. The innovation environment has been significantly optimized, with an average annual growth rate of 7.0% in the innovation environment index.

　　In 2022,China's innovation environment index was 160.4, an increase of 5.7% over 2021 and an average annual growth rate of 7.0% since 2015.

　　The policy support of additional tax deduction and exemption continued to strengthen. The proportion of adding and deducting R&D expenses has been continuously improved, the collection range of R&D expenses has been continuously expanded, and the R&D expense accounting management system has been continuously improved. In 2022, there were as many as 115,000 industrial enterprises above designated size benefited from the additional tax deduction and exemption policy, which is 7.9 times more than that of 2015, accounting for 65.7% of the total enterprises with R&D activities, an increase of 46.0 percentage points compared with 2015. The amount of tax exemption to be benefited from the policy is equivalent to RMB 299.43 billion, 6.7 times that of 2015.

       The number of science and engineering graduates increased rapidly. Science and engineering graduates are potential resources for scientific and technological innovation, and a key indicator in the European Innovation Scoreboard and other international mainstream innovation evaluation systems. In 2022, the number of graduates with a bachelor's degree or above in science, engineering, agriculture and medicine inChinareached 2,771,000, an increase of 723,000 or 35.3% over 2015.

       II. Innovation investment has increased steadily, with an average annual growth rate of 5.6% in the innovation investment index.

    In 2022,China's innovation investment index was 146.7, an increase of 7.0% over 2021 and an average annual growth rate of 5.6% since 2015.

       R&D input maintained faster growth. In 2022,China's R&D fund investment reached RMB 3,078.29 billion, a YoY growth of 10.1%. A two-digit growth had been maintained for seven consecutive years, and the No.2 place in terms of the total such input world-wide was secured. The average growth rate since 2015 is 11.7%, faster than that of developed countries such as theUnited States(8.0%),Germany(4.1%), andJapan(0.6%) during the same period [1]. R&D investment intensity (ratio of R&D expenditure to GDP) was 2.54%, an increase of 0.48 percentage points over 2015, showing a steady upward trend. Among them, the investment in basic research was RMB 202.35 billion, an average annual growth rate of 16.0% since 2015; and it accounted for 6.57% of the total investment in R&D, an increase of 1.52 percentage points over 2015. The full-time equivalent of R&D personnel was as high as 6,354,000 person-years, with an average annual growth rate of 7.8% since 2015 and remaining the No.1 world-wide in innovative human resources.

       The dominant position of enterprises in innovation was further consolidated. In 2022, R&D funds of Chinese enterprises were reported RMB 2,387.86 billion, an average annual growth rate of 11.9% since 2015. Enterprises' R&D funds accounted for 78.2% of the total R&D funds in the past seven years. Among them, industrial enterprises above designated size reported R&D funds of RMB 1,936.18 billion, an average annual growth rate of 9.9%; Among the industrial enterprises above designated size, 176,000 enterprises carried out R&D, accounting for 37.3%, an increase of 18.1 percentage points over 2015, and 269,000 enterprises carried out technological innovation, accounting for 57.1%, an increase of 18.9 percentage points over 2016.

       III. Innovation output has increased substantially, with an average annual growth rate of 9.4% in the innovation output index.

       In 2022,China's innovation output index was 187.5, an increase of 9.2% over 2021 and an average annual growth rate of 9.4% since 2015.

       Rich fruits were achieved in innovation output. In 2022, the number of authorized invention patents in China was 798,000, 2.2 times that of 2015; By the end of 2022, there were 3.28 million valid invention patents in China, 3.8 times that of 2015, 1.324 million high-value invention patents, 3.9 times that of 2015, and 9.4 high-value invention patents per 10,000 people, an increase of 6.9 over 2015 and 3.8 times that of 2015. In 2022, 2.147 million scientific papers were published, an increase of 30.9% over 2015. Further progress was made in enterprises' brand building. As of the end of 2022, a total of 74,000 industrial enterprises above designated size had held registered trademarks, 2.7 times that of 2015, and the total number of registered trademarks held reached 1.37 million, 3.2 times that of 2015.

　　Rapid development was attained in the technology market. In 2022, China's technology market reported a total contract amount of RMB 4,779.1 billion, 4.9 times that of 2015, with an average annual growth rate of 25.3%, indicating a rapid development of China's technology market and continuously enhanced vitality in technology transactions; The average contract amount was RMB 6.187 million, an increase of RMB 2.984 million over 2015, indicating a continuous improvement in the quality and efficiency of the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

       IV. The innovation efforts have shown further effect, with an average annual growth rate of 3.6% in the innovation effectiveness index.

       In 2022,China's innovation effectiveness index was 128.2, an increase of 0.7% over 2021 and an average annual growth rate of 3.6% since 2015.

       A steady and faster growth was maintained in the new product sales. In 2022,China's industrial enterprises above designated size reported total new product sales of RMB 32.8 trillion, an average annual growth rate of 11.7% since 2015; and it accounted for 24.6% of operating income, an increase of 11.0 percentage points over 2015. Among them, the sales revenue of products reaching the level of new products in the international market was RMB 3.5 trillion, and that of products reaching the level of new products in the domestic market was RMB 9.9 trillion, an increase of 60.9% and 77.8% respectively over 2016.

       New vitality was injected into the "Three New" economy. In 2022, the added value of China's "three new" economy was RMB 21,008.4 billion, an average annual growth rate of 10.9% since 2015 (without deducting price factors, the same below), 2.5 percentage points higher than the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the same period at current prices; the proportion equivalent to GDP was 17.36%, an increase of 2.6 percentage points over 2015. The emerging economy, represented by new industries, new business formats and new business models, has continued to develop and become an important force to drive economic transformation and upgrading and enhance economic vitality.

Note: [1] The international comparative data are from the official website of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (https://data.oecd.org), and the data year is from 2015 to 2021.

(Source: Website of National Bureau of Statistics | October 20, 2023)