China. (Region Watch).

China: In October 2001, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology designated six priority projects for public bidding under the 10th Five-Year Plan's Key Technologies Research and Development program. The "Research and Development of Scientific Instruments" named six focus areas: chromatograph

and dedicated components; spectroscopic analyzers; nuclear magnetic resonance chemical analyzers; electrochemical analyzers; general software platforms for scientific instruments; and devices for scientific instrument support. R&D goals as a whole include: advancing underground nuclear magnetism, electrochemistry and software; creating 20 new products; acquiring 30 or more patent rights in order to raise the domestic market equity of Chinese analytical instruments from 27% to 40%; doubling the volume of instruments exported; and creating two to four manufacturing bases for analytical instruments with sales over RMB 100 million (1 RMB = 0.12 USD, 100 million RMB = $120,961 US).

Source: Chinese Embassy