Shenzhen's investment in research and experimental development (R&D) reached 168.2 billion yuan (US$2.36 billion) in 2021, up by 11.3% year on year, ranking third among major Chinese cities after Beijing and Shanghai, according to data released by the Shenzhen Municipal Statistics Bureau.

Shenzhen’s R&D input accounted for 5.49% of the city’s GDP, up by 0.03 percentage points over the amount in 2020.

The R&D input scale and its ratio to the GDP are two major indexes evaluating the S&T scale and innovation capability of a country or a region, according to the bureau.

The city’s R&D input took up 42% of Guangdong’s total, and 6% of the country’s total.

For seven consecutive years, the city’s R&D input kept a double-digit growth, with R&D input between 2015 and 2021 posting a yearly average growth of 14.9%

Expenditure on basic research went up to 12.2 billion yuan in 2021, 4.91 billion yuan more than 2020. Shenzhen enterprises’ expenditure on basic research reached 7.98 billion yuan, accounting for 47.9% of the total spent by Chinese enterprises.

Shenzhen enterprises’ spending on research and innovation reached 158.2 billion yuan, accounting for 94% of the city’s total R&D expenditure. It is followed by research institutes (6.19 billion yuan), higher education institutions (3.52 billion yuan) and other organizations (254 million yuan).