China's tech innovation prospers as nation targets breakthroughs

China's technology innovation capabilities have skyrocketed in the past decade, built on solid foundations laid since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy around 45 years ago. 

Space and aviation endeavor

The country has created numerous milestones in technology advances and there are more in the making. In late 2003, Yang Liwei became the country's astronaut, or taikonaut, to be sent into space. Five years later, in 2008, China's manned mission Shenzhou-7 taikonaut Zhai Zhigang performed a historic 20-minute space walk, making China the third nation in the world to independently conduct a spacewalk, following the former Soviet Union and the United States.

The progress has continued at pace. One of the biggest achievements Chinese scientists have made in the past 10 years is now flying over 400 kilometers above the Earth – the China Space Station. It took the nation less than two years and four crewed missions to construct its first long-stay home in space. By the end of 2022, the space station kicked off its stage of application and development, ready for thousands of experiments as well as international cooperation.

From the moon, China's Chang'e-5 probe retrieved fresh rock and soil samples in 2020. They were the first lunar samples humanity has obtained in more than four decades. China's exploration of the moon continues, as it plans to establish a lunar research station and commenced its first manned lunar exploration project, aiming to achieve the first manned landing on the moon by 2030 before the country readies more expeditions in deeper space.

In addition, China's interplanetary exploration program took a significant step forward when the Tianwen-1 rover made the country's first imprint on Mars in 2021.

Down below, inside the atmosphere, hovers another source of national pride – the country's first large passenger jumbo jet C919. Developed by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the jet features a wingspan of nearly 36 meters and a length of about 39 meters. With the market operation of the C919 kicking off in 2021, the aircraft could not only reshape the global commercial aviation landscape but also symbolizes China's progress in the aerospace industry. The latest reports suggest over 1,000 orders for the C919 have already been placed.

Megaprojects

On the ground, China has already constructed the world's most sophisticated high-speed rail network and Chinese engineers are going the extra mile to test the speed limits of the trains. In the past summer, a new bullet train reached speeds of 453 kilometers per hour in test runs. At such a speed, the travel time between Beijing and Shanghai would be under three hours.

The CR450 science and technology innovation project is one of the key national science programs outlined in China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). A massive amount of research, simulating calculations and tests are required to pave the way for developing the next generation bullet trains.

China has also completed an array of mega projects. It built one of the world's longest cross-sea bridge the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. It developed the world's largest single-dish radio telescope Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST). It developed Hualong One, China's nuclear power reactor design, recognized as one of the world's most advanced third-generation nuclear power units. It constructed the Baihetan hydropower station, the world's second largest following the Three Gorges Dam project in central China.

The list could go on.

Greater R&D investment

All the exciting results could not have been achieved without R&D investment. In the past 10 years, China's annual research expenses surged to 3.09 trillion yuan ($434 billion) in 2022 from 1.03 trillion yuan in 2012, the second highest in the world. Meanwhile, its total number of R&D personnel has increased from 3.25 million to over 6 million.

China made it to 11th place in the global innovation index ranking in 2022, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization.

China's investment in basic scientific research also jumped quickly, from 49.9 billion yuan in 2012 to 195.1 billion yuan in 2022. Those investments helped Chinese scientists to study some of the world's most cutting-edge fields, from quantum computing to brain technologies.

In the meantime, China has created 19 national technology innovation centers, 420 technology transferring agencies and more than 40 technology exchange marketplaces. Those facilities helped to close technology related deals with 3.73 trillion yuan in 2021.

Broadened international cooperation

China has also expanded its collaborations with other countries and international institutes. 

It has established scientific and technological cooperation relations with 161 countries and regions, and signed 116 intergovernmental scientific and technological cooperation agreements. The country has set up 10 major innovation dialogue mechanisms with the United States, the EU and Russia and started seven scientific and technological partnership programs with partners in Africa, ASEAN and Latin America.

International science projects such as data-driven research Deep Time Digital Earth, international nuclear fusion research ITER and intergovernmental international radio telescope project SKA are among the programs China has been engaged in.

Looking forward, China is slated to devote more resources and roll out new policies to encourage technology breakthroughs in crucial areas as part of its broader push to boost the economy. Promoting tech innovations has been listed as the top priority for China's economic work in 2024, according to the Central Economic Work Conference that concluded in mid-December.