When the Hebei Provincial Science and Technology Dep't, Statistics Bureau, and Finance Dep't published their "Provincial Research and Development Investment Statistics" for 2012, it showed input in R&D worth 24.58 billion yuan ($4 billion), up 22.1 percent from the previous year’s 4.44 billion, and accounting for 0.92 percent of total GDP, up 0.1 percent. R&D input is a major factor in regional technological development.

The province had five cities -- Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, Baoding, Handan and Qinghuangdao -- that put 20.27 billion yuan in total into R&D, accounting for 82.5 percent of total urban investment. Also, the proportion of R&D input in GDP in four of them exceeded the provincial average.