Poster: China Innovation Index up 5.3% in 2024

The China Innovation Index, a barometer of the country's innovation capability, rose steadily in 2024, official data showed on Wednesday.

The index increased by 5.3 percent from the 2023 level to 174.2 last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The innovation environment continued to improve, featuring increasing innovation investment, rapidly growing innovation output and strengthening driving forces for the economy, the NBS said.

The country's spending on basic research climbed 10.7 percent from a year earlier to 250.09 billion yuan (35.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024, maintaining a rapid, double-digit growth streak, official data revealed.