The 2018 National Science and Technology Conference was held in Beijing. Wan Gang, China's Minister of Science and Technology, said the innovations of science and technology have been increasing rapidly, which was a historical and structural breakthrough. China has become an influential scientific and technologic power on the international stage due to the significant innovations and the strong capability of science and technology.

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Wan Gang noted that China's technological innovation capacity has greatly improved, and major innovation indexes have also taken the lead. In 2017, the total expenditure of research and development (R&D) is expected to reach 1.76 billion yuan, which is an increase of 70.9 percent from 2012. The expenditure of the GDP is 2.15 percent, exceeding 2.1 percent, which is the average level for 15 European countries.

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The number of international science and technology papers published is ranked second, an increase of 70 percent compared to 2012. It is the first time that citations of Chinese international science and technology papers exceeded those of the Germans and the UK, surging to second in the world.

The number of Chinese invention patents and patent grants ranked in first. The number of valid innovation patents ranked third. The turnover of national technology transaction contracts reached 1.3 billion yuan. The number of new and high technology industries exceeded 136,000. Their R&D investment and invention patents authorization account for more than half and 40 percent of the national counterparts respectively. The tax payment of new and high technology industries was more than 15,000 yuan. Their total sales volume exceeds 30,000 yuan, increasing by more than 10 percent. More than 25 million jobs were offered. Contribution rate of scientific and technological progress has increased from 52.2 percent in 2012 to 57.5 percent. National innovative capacity has risen in rank from 20th in 2012 to 17th.

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"In 2018, the country will continue to promote the establishment of technology-based companies and the transformation of scientific achievements, and create a better environment for innovation by optimizing policy," said Wan.