India, March 23 -- The People's Republic of China could be the biggest public funder of scientific research in about two years from now, an article in Nature has stated.

This is according to an analysis by researchers from Frontiers in Science and Innovation Policy (FSIP), a programme at the University of California, San Diego. FSIP studies the US research and development (R&D) system and examines the extent to which public and private funding boost technological development.

The researchers found that government spending on R&D in China increased by 90 per cent to $133 billion in the decade leading up to 2023. In contrast, public spending in the United States rose by just 12 per cent, to $155 billion.

The Nature article noted that as ...