National Key R&D Programs (国家重点研发计划)

The National Key R&D Programs (NKP) are China's primary competitive applied-research grant mechanism, running annual calls across dozens of topical Key Special Programs (重点专项). Eligible applicants include universities, research institutes, state-owned enterprises, and private companies — all must be Chinese-registered entities. Sub-tracks include the standard project track, a Young Scientist Project track (青年科学家项目) for early-career researchers, an S&T-based SME track (科技型中小企业项目), and an Intergovernmental International S&T Cooperation track for joint projects with foreign partners. Applications are submitted via service.most.gov.cn, operated by ISTIC (MOST's Institute of S&T Information affiliate). All calls, templates, and application materials are in Chinese only. Award amounts, specific deadlines, and scoring rubrics are published per-call in program guides (专项指南) that are released in advance of each annual intake window; the raw sources captured here do not contain per-call financial details. PDF program guides were not extracted at ingest; page limits, scoring rubrics, and award amounts per call are not currently captured.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.