context: NSFC is one of five pillarS of central science and technology funding, mostly focusing on basic research. Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) spent C¥35.49 bn on the national key R&D projects, one of the other pillars, in 2017. Ensuring fairness and transparency has been a key goal, after several leaders were replaced on corruption suspicions and NSFC was placed under MoST supervision in the March 2018 government overhaul. As with the Young Scientist Program, the gap between coastal and inland provinces is widening.
National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) published the final results of research projects receiving 2018 NSFC funding, reports Cingta. Out of 214,876 applications, 41,250 research projects won a total of C¥21 bn, These include
- 1 major project
- 701 key projects
- 17,671 projects under the Young Scientists Fund
- 400 projects under the Excellent Young Scientists Fund
- 38 projects under the Science Fund for Creative Research Groups
- 102 projects under the Joint Research Fund for Overseas Chinese Scholars and Scholars in Hong Kong and Macao
- 261 jointly funded projects
- 86 projects under the Special Fund for Research on National Major Research Instruments
The list of grant-winning universities is led by
- Shanghai Jiaotong University with C¥530 million for 1,021 projects
- Zhongshan University with C¥451 million for 872 projects
- Zhejiang University with C¥510 million for 861 projects
- Huazhong University of Science and Technology with C¥376 million for 719 projects
- Fudan University with C¥389 million for 667 projects
16 universities received over C¥200 million. All of them are located in coastal metropolises. Nine provinces did not reach this C¥200 million threshold, including Hebei, Shanxi, Guizhou, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hainan, Ningxia, Qinghai and Tibet, notes Cingta. The top geographic locations were
- Beijing with C¥3.97 bn for 6,553 projects, accounting for 18.96 percent of the total
- Jiangsu with C¥2 bn for 4,072 projects
- Shanghai with C¥2.13 bn for 3,887 projects