China becomes world's No.2 for R&D
4 December 2006
China has become the world's second-largest spender on research and development, overtaking Japan, according to a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD says China will spend US$136 billion on R&D this year, up more than 20% year-on-year, taking it past Japan's US$130 billion but still trailing the US, which tops the list with US$330 billion. Dirk Pilat, head of the OECD's science and technology division, described the level of Chinese growth as "stunning", but noted that the bulk of it involved altering products for the China market rather than basic scientific research, the Financial Times reported. Despite more and more multinationals moving genuine research to China to exploit low costs, patent registrations from Chinese with patent offices in the US, Europe and Japan remain low.
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