BEIJING — The China Innovation Index, the barometer of the country's innovation capability, continued to climb in 2021, official data showed.

The index, introduced in 2005, increased by 8 percent from the 2020 level to 264.6 last year, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.

Total R&D expenditure witnessed a jump of 14.6 percent year-on-year to reach around 2.8 trillion yuan (about $390.53 billion), maintaining double-digit growth for six consecutive years.

The number of domestic patents granted surged 26.9 percent to nearly 4.47 million.

The data showed that sci-tech innovation had further promoted the country's green development. Last year, the energy consumption per unit of GDP edged down 2.7 percent from the previous year.

Coal consumption accounted for 56 percent of the total energy consumption, edging down 0.9 percentage points, while that of clean energy went up 1.2 percentage points to 25.5 percent.

The index readings confirm that China's innovation-driven development had seen rapid progress despite complex and grim situations at home and abroad, said Li Yin, a statistician with the NBS, noting that it had injected a strong impetus into maintaining stable economic development.