China to better finance scientific development

BEIJING - China will improve the way it provides financial support to science and technology development, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Tuesday.

When delivering a report to the country's top legislature, Lou said despite increasing financial input into the sector, reforms are needed to improve the system's effectiveness.

Basic research relies heavily on financial support from central government rather than local governments or enterprises, and the proportion of research and development expenditure spent on basic research is too low, said Lou in the report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

In addition, the science and technology funding system lacks coordination between departments, and relations between the government and the market have not been clearly defined, affecting the effectiveness of fiscal support.

Lou said the most fundamental way to address these problems is to further deepen reform of the science and technology system. He said the government will continue to transform its functions and build a science-technology innovation system with enterprises as major players.

The government will also promote other forms of financial support, such as angel investment and government procurement of services.

Lou said the science and technology evaluation system and management of financial funds in the sector should be improved, and in the meantime, strengthen the monitoring and supervision of its use.

The country's fiscal expenditure in science and technology development increased from 168.9 billion yuan in 2006 to 560 billion yuan in 2012, an average annual growth rate of 22.73 percent.

Expenditure in research and development in China reached one trillion yuan ($164.1 billion) in 2012, about 1.98 percent of its gross domestic product, according to the report.