China to accelerate innovation-driven development

A child takes part in an art exhibition using virtual reality devices at an art museum in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo by Long Wei/For China Daily]

China will step up efforts to promote innovation-driven development this year, with a key focus on promoting scientific and technological innovation as well as industrial upgrading, the government wrote in its 2022 Government Work Report.

The country will roll out more policy support to motivate businesses to engage in research and development this year in a move to create new drivers of growth, Premier Li Keqiang said in Beijing while delivering the report at the opening of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, on Saturday.

According to the report, China will work to raise the deduction coverage for small and medium sci-tech enterprises from 75 percent to 100 percent, grant tax breaks to enterprises that invest in basic research, and improve policies on accelerated depreciation of equipment and tools and on preferential corporate income tax for new and high-tech enterprises.

Looking into 2022, China will make a big push to boost the core competitiveness of manufacturing, promote the stable performance of the industry, ensure supply of raw materials and key spare parts, and maintain the stability and security of industrial and supply chains.

The report said China will launch a group of industrial foundation reengineering projects, help upgrade traditional industries, speed up the development of advanced manufacturing clusters, and launch a national program to foster clusters of strategic emerging industries. It will also work to nurture specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products.

More efforts will be made to encourage the development of the digital economy, build more digital information infrastructure, apply 5G technology on a larger scale, advance digitalization of industries, accelerate the development of the Industrial Internet, build up digital industries such as integrated circuits and artificial intelligence, and enhance China's technological innovation and supply capacities for key software and hardware.