China's investment in research and development hit 2.44 trillion yuan in 2020, surging 10.2 percent year-on-year, according to a latest report jointly released on Sept 22 by the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Finance.

The investment was 146.7 billion yuan for basic research, 275.7 billion yuan for applied research and 2.02 trillion yuan for experimental development, reflecting year-on-year increases of 9.8 percent, 10.4 percent and 10.2 percent, respectively.