China News Service:

Data shows that the scale of high-tech industries has doubled in the past decade. What has the NDRC done in the field of innovation and high-tech development? What's the next move to improve the level and competitiveness of industrial technologies? Thank you.

Yang Yinkai:

Thank you for your questions. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a series of major arrangements for firmly establishing a new development philosophy and deeply implementing the innovation-driven development strategy. Over the past decade, China's scientific and technological innovations have undergone historic, overall, and structural changes. China has risen from 34th place 10 years ago to now ranking 11th on the Global Innovation Index 2022 list and has successfully entered the ranks of innovative countries. China has made great achievements in innovative and high-tech developments in four aspects.

First, the high-tech industry is now larger. Over the past decade, the business revenue of high-tech industries has doubled from 9.95 trillion yuan in 2012 to 19.91 trillion yuan in 2021. The proportion of high-tech manufacturing in the added value of industries above designated size increased from 9.4% in 2012 to 15.1% in 2021. The number of high-tech manufacturing industrial enterprises above designated size has increased from 24,600 in 2012 to 41,400 in 2021, and many leading innovative enterprises with international competitiveness have emerged.

Second, the quality of high-tech products is better. Over the past decade, the R&D investment intensity of the high-tech industry has increased from 1.68% in 2012 to 2.67% in 2021, realizing a significant transformation of "from 0.23 percentage points lower than the R&D investment intensity of the whole society to 0.23 percentage points higher." Flatscreen TVs, drones, smartphones, solar photovoltaic modules, and other products are greatly favored by the international market, while China's high-speed trains, third-generation nuclear power plants, manned space flights, BeiDou navigation tools, and other pillar projects have become new national business cards. The international image of China's high-tech products has fundamentally changed.

Third, the high-tech industry has a stronger foundation. Over the past decade, we have always placed basic research and cutting-edge technology development in a prominent position; laid out and built more than 40 major scientific and technological infrastructures, including the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF); and made every effort to build international scientific and technological innovation centers in Beijing, Shanghai, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as well as building comprehensive national science centers in Beijing's Huairou District, Shanghai's Zhangjiang Town, Hefei City, and the Greater Bay Area. Basic research funds increased three-fold, and the number of domestic invention patents and PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) international applications jumped to number one in the world. China has built the world's largest 5G network, with the number of internet users reaching 1.032 billion in 2021, helping it maintain the title of the world's largest online retail market for nine consecutive years.

Fourth, the vitality of innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity is stronger. Over the past decade, we have vigorously deepened the reform of the system and mechanisms and created a good environment for innovation. China has become a fertile soil for vigorous innovation and entrepreneurship in the world. The number of newly established entities in the market per day is constantly increasing, and the tax amount of newly increased tax-related entities since 2013 has reached 4.76 trillion yuan. China's digital economy is booming, and its scale ranks second in the world. The development and application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, quantum communication, and intelligent driving are at the forefront of the world's industries. Express delivery, telehealth service, online offices, the "new individual economy," the "unmanned economy," and other new business formats and models continued to emerge, creating hundreds of millions of flexible jobs.

Next, we will continue to follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, implement the innovation-driven development strategy, regard innovation as the primary driving force for development, and strengthen our science and technology to provide strategic support for China's development. We will coordinate development and security, give full play to the advantages of the nationwide pooling of efforts and resources on key national undertakings, boost our strategic scientific and technological strength, and reinforce the principal position of enterprises in innovation. We will focus on major, cutting-edge, and basic technologies and continue to improve the ecology of innovation, entrepreneurship, and creation. In these ways, we will strive to become one of the leading innovative countries and a global power in science and technology at an early date.

Thank you.

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