China's south, north see wider gap in R&D input growth, intensity

Regions in the south and the north of China saw a widening gap in the research and development expenditure growth rate and intensity in the last decade, the China Business News analyzed on Thursday based on data from 31 Chinese provincial level administrative regions.

Statistics from the National Bureau show eight out of the top 10 regions with fastest growth in R&D input are located in southern China except for Ningxia and Henan. Meanwhile, all the regions at the bottom of the list are from the north, namely, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanxi and Gansu, with the provinces in northeastern China representing the lowest three.

A similar picture emerged for R&D intensity (referring to the R&D/GDP value) among the 31 regions in the past 10 years, according to the China Business News.

Although almost all of the 31 regions had seen growth in R&D intensity from 2008 through 2018, the gap between the south and north was significant. Among the top 10 regions with the highest R&D intensity, the only one from the north was Beijing, while the rest of the regions were from the south, led by Shanghai and Guangdong.

The gap in R&D input growth and R&D intensity between the south and north echoed the differentiation in economic development of the south and north, said Xie Liangbing, president of the Standard Ranking City Institute, who analyzed that the widening gap is rooted in the rise and decline in emerging and traditional industries and the speed of innovation.