BEIJING - China has increased spending on scientific and technological research and development (R&D), according to a white paper released Tuesday by the State Council Information Office.

Last year, China's R&D spending hit 2.4 trillion yuan (about $370.97 billion), ranking the world's second, the white paper said, noting that the ratio of R&D to GDP reached 2.4 percent.

Nearly 1.35 million utility patent applications were filed with domestic agencies and 441,000 were granted, while 69,000 international patent applications were submitted through the Patent Cooperation Treaty in 2020, said the white paper titled "China's Epic Journey from Poverty to Prosperity."

The country ranked 14th on the Global Innovation Index in 2020 and was the only middle-income economy among the top 30 on the list, according to the white paper.

By the end of 2020, China had established 533 key national labs, 350 national engineering research centers, 1,636 national enterprise technology centers, 212 mass entrepreneurship and innovation bases, 1,287 national technology enterprise incubators, and 2,251 makerspaces approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the white paper said.