Under the serious competitive environment, the key to survival and development of a company is the core competence which is closely connected with R&D investment and intensity. In this paper, we choose 84 companies in the growth enterprise market backed by private equity funds as sample to research the relation between R & D intensity and board characteristics. It reveals that CEO background and male director ratio are positively related to R & D intensity. In contrast, board shareholding ratio, independent director ratio and director compensation are negatively related to R & D intensity.