China has unveiled the guidelines for its national strategy to promote the country's innovation-driven development.

The three-step strategy announced Thursday aims to make China an innovative nation by 2020, and an international leader in innovation by 2030.

The third step seeks to make China a global powerhouse in scientific and technological innovation by 2050.

China plans to make innovation its primary driving force for development in the coming years.

The guidelines also call for innovation integration in science and technology as well as in systems, management, and business models.

As part of the strategy, China plans to invest 2.5 percent of its GDP in research and development by 2020 and raise that to 2.8 percent by 2030.