Chinese Academy of Sciences

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy, research organization, consultancy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It is the world's largest research organization, with 100 research institutes, 3 universities, 69 thousand full-time employees, and 79 thousand graduate students. It has been consistently ranked among the top research organizations around the world. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republican era and was formerly also known by that name until the 1980s. The academy functions as the national scientific think tank and academic governing body, providing advisory and appraisal services on issues stemming from the national economy, social development, and science and technology progress. It is headquartered in Beijing, with affiliate institutes throughout China. It has also created hundreds of commercial enterprises, Lenovo being one of the most famous. CAS has been ranked the No. 1 research institute in the world by Nature Index since the list's inception in 2014 by Nature Portfolio. It was the most productive institution publishing articles on sustainable development indexed in Web of Science from 1981 to 2018 among all universities and research institutions in the world. The academy also runs the University of Science and Technology of China and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is among the world's top five universities ranked by Nature Index. Membership