BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's investment in research and development (R&D) rose by 22 percent last year, according to Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua on Monday.

Many breakthroughs were made in China's science and technology last year in terms of the innovation capability of enterprises and the number of patents and research papers, said Xu at a national conference.

Industrialization of high-technology grew rapidly and the performance of high-tech products on the international market improved significantly, he said, adding that science and technology was making a greater contribution to economic and social development.

Last year, China's total R&D spending reached 300 billion yuan (38.5 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 1.4 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), said Xu.

"It is the first time the proportion of R&D spending in terms of GDP has reached such a high level," he noted.

China's GDP reached 20.94 trillion yuan (2.7 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2006, up 10.7 percent on the previous year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.