The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will establish five more research institutes together with the governments of five cities by 2010 to bolster the country's scientific creativity, especially in new and high-tech sectors, sources with the CAS said Sunday.

The five new institutes will be located in the coastal or economically booming cities of Yantai, Qingdao, Suzhou, Shenzhen and Xiamen. They mainly cover coastal sustainable development, bioenergy, nanoscience, urban environment, and other advanced technologies.

The CAS boasts scientific research prowess in Beijing and Shanghai and the country's western parts. Now it is improving regional scientific deployment by setting up the research institutes in the eastern and southern areas.

The establishment of the new institutes will push forward the country's reform of scientific system and boost the nation's overall capability of scientific innovation, said Lu Yongxiang, president of the CAS.

The Outline of the National Program for Long-and Medium-Term Scientific and Technological Development, issued by the State Council earlier this year, demands that by 2020 the spending on research and development reach 2.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

The outline calls for additional spending in 16 key areas, including software and semiconductors, telecommunications, nuclear power, genetically modified crops and space exploration. In 2005, China devoted about 1.23 percent of its GDP to research and development.

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