China investing big in scientific research

China has funded 37,606 programmes with an investment of 18.35 billion yuan (about USD 2.87 billion) so far this year, accounting for 80.2 per cent of this year's funding plan.
President of the National Natural Science Foundation Yang Wei said scientific research funds have been better directed this year, and project leaders who received the investment are getting younger with 43.14 per cent under 40 years old, state- run Xinhua news agency reported today.
The foundation is a major funding source focusing on basic scientific research and frontier scientific exploration.
It has cooperated with 78 overseas natural science organisations and R&D funding agencies in 39 countries.