During the golden age of science and technology development that
China has enjoyed since the 1980s, many key technical problems in
socio-economic development have been solved through a combination
of sci-tech research, the introduction of foreign technologies and
technological upgrading. Since 1981, Chinese research has produced
619,000 important scientific and technological outcomes, some 20
percent of which were at advanced world level. In 2005, registered
sci-tech outcomes numbered 31,720, of which 2,839 related to basic
theory, and 27,363 to applied technology.
The number of China's theses published in international
periodicals ranks fifth in the world. In 2004, there were 93,352
theses from China embodied in the three world-renowned search
systems, viz. Science Citation Index, Engineering Information and
Index to Scientific and Technical Proceedings, accounting for 5.1
percent of the world total.
Reflecting growth in innovation, patent applications are
increasing. There were, 2,280,000 applications filed in 2005,
covering invention, utility model and external design. The State
Intellectual Property Office received 476,000 applications, and
granted over 214,000 in the year, 12.5 percent more than in
2004.
China was one of the few countries to start focusing on nano
materials in the 1990s and nanotechnology-related patent
applications have grown particularly fast. Today there are more
than 4,000 such patents, accounting for 12 percent of the world
total, and ranking third in the world.
