Map of China's State Key Laboratory System

By Emily Weinstein, Daniel Chou, Channing Lee, Ryan Fedasiuk, and Anna Puglisi

China’s State Key Laboratories (SKLs; 国家重点实验室) serve as a primary driver of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) research and innovation efforts, as well as its ambitious science and technology (S&T) agenda in the commercial and military spaces. These laboratories, overseen by and most often co-located with universities and enterprises across China–referred to in Chinese as the “relying” or “supporting” unit (依托单位)–receive funding, administrative support, and policy guidance from the PRC government. As of 2019, official Chinese state media claim that China has 515 SKLs. The data brief entitled “China’s State Key Laboratory System: A View into China’s Innovation System” based its analysis on a self-curated dataset of 469 SKLs that could be found in open-source venues, including ones no longer in operation.

The following map contains all 469 of the SKLs used in that CSET analysis. All SKLs have been geocoded based on their addresses; in instances where no address was publicly available, the SKL has been placed at the address of its relying unit.

This data visualization tool allows users to view SKLs housed at both enterprises and academic institutions, including those attached to Chinese Academy of Science (CAS; 中国科学院) institutes, and filter among them based on the subject area given to them by the PRC government. From there, users can view information about selected SKLs, including whether the SKL is on a U.S. government export control or sanctions list, or associated with PLA institutions. Users may download this dataset and search for specific labs according to these tags.

Scroll to explore different ways to group SKLs. For an in-depth assessment of SKLs, see the CSET data brief China's State Key Laboratories.