Chongqing maintained 7th place in China in its comprehensive S&T innovation index in 2019, according to the China Regional Science and Technology Innovation Evaluation Report 2020 released on January 5.

Chongqing Productivity Council and Chongqing Daily Research Institute of Big Data jointly issued the Chongqing Science and Technology Innovation Index Report (2020) recently. In the same year, the city's comprehensive science & technology (S&T) innovation index reached 71.73%, increasing 1.94 percentage points over the previous year.

Chongqing's S&T innovation index is an important reference to objectively reflect the development level and trend of S&T innovation in the city and scientifically guide the S&T innovation in districts and counties.

It involves five primary indicators, namely the environment for S&T innovation, investment in S&T innovation, the output of S&T innovation, high-tech industrialization, and economic development driven by S&T and 17 secondary indicators, including R&D investment intensity.

The Chongqing Science and Technology Innovation Index Report (2020) shows that the input & output levels and the city's S&T innovation index, the index of economic development driven by S&T, and high-tech index industrialization all improved in 2019.

Compared with the previous year, the city's S&T innovation input index increased by 3.09 percentage points, its R&D (research and experimental development) expenditure rose by 14.47%, and the S&Tinnovation output index grew by 1.67 percentage points.

In addition, the number of invention patents lifted by 16.15%, the index of economic development driven by S&T went up by 1.39 percentage points, the high-tech industrialization index increased by 1.08 percentage points, the number of new high-tech enterprises reached 673, and the value of high-tech product exports rose by 10.61%.

More importantly, the index of economic development driven by S&T of 20 districts and counties, the S&T innovation input index of 23 districts and counties, and the S&T innovation output index of 26 districts and counties have all increased by varying degrees.