The "2023 National Science and Technology Investment Statistics Bulletin" jointly released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Finance shows that the total investment in research and experimental development (RD) in China in 2023 was 3335.71 billion yuan, an increase of 8.4% over the previous year, maintaining a stable growth trend. The total amount of RD funding in China exceeded 1 trillion yuan in 2012, 2 trillion yuan in 2019, and 3 trillion yuan in 2022. Currently, the total amount of RD funding is second only to the United States and ranks second in the world Zhang Qilong, a statistician from the Social Science and Culture Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that the continuous increase in RD funding provides strong guarantees for China to accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement. In terms of investment intensity, the R&D expenditure intensity (the ratio of R&D expenditure to GDP) in China in 2023 will be 2.65%, an increase of 0.09 percentage points from the previous year, which is faster than the average annual level of 0.02 percentage points since the 13th Five Year Plan. From the perspective of activity types, in 2023, China's funding for basic research, applied research, and experimental development will be 225.91 billion yuan, 366.15 billion yuan, and 2743.65 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 11.6%, 5.1%, and 8.5% compared to the previous year. Among them, basic research funding continues to grow rapidly in double digits or more, with a growth rate 3.2 percentage points faster than that of RD funding; The proportion of basic research to RD funding has reached 6.77%, the highest level in history. From the perspective of activity entities, in 2023, the RD funding for enterprises, government affiliated research institutions, and higher education institutions will be 259.22 billion yuan, 385.63 billion yuan, and 275.33 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 8.6%, 1.1%, and 14.1% compared to the previous year. Among them, enterprises account for 77.7% of the total social RD funds, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from 2022, further consolidating their position as innovation entities. The proportion of R&D expenses of Chinese enterprises in the whole society is close to that of the United States (79.0%) and Japan (79.4%), and higher than that of European countries such as Germany (67.4%) and France (65.8%), providing support for innovative development Zhang Qilong said. (New Society)