2024 Zhongguancun Forum
On the morning of April 17, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference, at which Chen Jiachang, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, Yu Yingjie, Member of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Education Working Committee, and Chen Kelong, Director of the Planning Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, introduced the relevant situation of the 2024 Zhongguancun Forum and answered questions from reporters.
The 2024 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference will be held in Beijing from April 25 to 29. Co-sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the China Association for Science and Technology and the Beijing Municipality, the forum will hold nearly 120 activities with the theme of "Innovation: Building a Better World".
More than 100 countries and regions, more than 150 foreign government departments and international organizations will be invited to participate in the forum, and hundreds of top experts and thousands of speakers will focus on topics such as scientific and technological innovation leading social progress, improving people's livelihood and sustainable development, discussing open innovation, seeking common development opportunities, and contributing wisdom and strength to building a better world.
5 major sectors Nearly 120 events
1. Opening Ceremony and Plenary Session. On the morning of April 25, the opening ceremony and plenary session of the 2024 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference will be held, inviting state leaders, heads of international science and technology organizations, envoys to China, heads of relevant ministries and commissions, heads of provincial, autonomous and municipal delegations, heads of Chinese and foreign scientific research institutions and science and technology enterprises, and inviting Nobel laureates and other top scientists and well-known entrepreneurs to deliver speeches around the annual theme.
2. Parallel forums. A total of 60 parallel forums were held by national ministries and commissions, international organizations, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei provinces and cities. Focusing on the frontiers of science and technology, forums on basic research, artificial intelligence, and space science will be held; forums on future industries, engineering science and technology, state-owned enterprise discovery and invention, and ultra-high-definition audio-visual will be held around new productivity; forums on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Beijing-Hong Kong-Beijing-Macao, China-EU industrial cooperation, and global benchmarking incubators will be held around open ecology; innovation forums on women in science and technology, international youth, and overseas students will be held around scientific and technological talents; and forums on intellectual property protection, science and technology and rule of law, and data security governance will be held around science and technology governance. In addition, from April 27th to 29th, the 8th China Science Fiction Convention will be held in Shougang Park, Shijingshan District, focusing on technical exchanges, science fiction creation and industry cultivation, organizing 18 wonderful activities such as forum meetings and science fiction film weeks.
3. Technology Trading Conference. This year, 30 activities will be held, including 6 key country matchmaking meetings such as Britain, Italy and South Korea, 4 "debut" meetings for the transformation of national scientific and technological achievements, and 8 "debut" meetings for high-tech products, bringing together more than 6,000 innovative projects in more than 40 countries and regions such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan, and launching a list of 100 new technologies and new products and a list of 100 international technology trading projects, and continuing to create a technology trading event of "global buying and global selling".
4. Release of results. On the afternoon of April 29, a special release event will be held to release a number of major original achievements, blockbuster innovation policies and the latest research reports to the world, and continue to build a "wind vane" of global cutting-edge technology and future industries.
5. Frontier Competition. This year's competition has set up 8 competition areas at home and abroad, and in accordance with the principle of "global invitation and competition", a total of more than 3,100 entries from 75 countries and regions have been collected, covering many cutting-edge subdivisions such as quantum information, photonic computing, and metaverse. During the annual meeting of the forum, the finals will be held, and a mechanism of "continuous service and growth boost" will be established to provide all-round services such as investment and financing, space landing, and market docking for participating enterprises.
In addition, more than 20 supporting activities will be held, such as the "City Affairs" Innovation Festival, the Hard Science and Technology Carnival, and the Enterprise Theme Session, to disseminate the scientific spirit to the public, build a platform for scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, etc. to exchange and cooperate, and create a "living room" that links global wisdom.
Three major features
The first is to highlight cutting-edge exploration. Focusing on artificial intelligence, life sciences, new materials and other cutting-edge fields of science and technology, a series of conferences and activities will be held, and a number of the latest major scientific and technological achievements will be released, demonstrating the leading role in cultivating new quality productivity and promoting global scientific and technological innovation.
The second is to highlight the sharing of achievements. Focusing on the fields of people's livelihood science and technology such as carbon peak and carbon neutrality, medical health, and clean energy, we have built a trading and sharing platform for more than 3,000 scientific and technological achievements from more than 40 countries and regions through activities such as the Zhongguancun International Technology Exchange Conference and the Zhongguancun International Science and Technology Frontier Competition.
The third is to highlight openness and cooperation. There is not only an intergovernmental dialogue on science and technology cooperation, but also a wide range of international science and technology organizations, scientists, innovative enterprises and investors are invited to participate, link global wisdom, build an exchange platform, and inject new vitality into global science and technology cooperation.
Answering questions from reporters
Reporter's question: The 2024 Zhongguancun Forum was held for the first time at the newly built permanent venue, and more than 50 parallel forums were set up. What are the sponsors of the Ministry of Science and Technology?
Chen Jiachang answered: The Zhongguancun Forum is a national-level forum, and all relevant ministries and commissions have given strong support over the years. This year, 19 ministries will take the lead in hosting 24 parallel forums. Among them, the Ministry of Science and Technology, together with the All-China Women's Federation, the China Association for Science and Technology and other departments, co-hosted seven parallel forums with Beijing, namely: the International Forum on the Decade of Science, the Global Science and Technology Cluster Innovation Forum, the Global Health and Development Forum, the Future Artificial Intelligence Pioneer Forum, the Global Women in Science and Technology Innovation Forum, the Global Science and Technology Innovation High-end Think Tank Forum, and the Science and Diplomacy International Forum. These seven parallel forums have the following three main features:
First, there is a high level of international participation. Experts and scholars from 16 countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, and South Korea, as well as heads or high-level representatives of international organizations and institutions such as UNESCO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the World Health Organization, attended the event to share and exchange the cutting-edge trends and latest ideas of global scientific and technological innovation.
Second, the theme covers a wide range. Focusing on multiple topics such as basic research, cutting-edge science and technology, life and health, science and technology clusters, science and technology think tanks, science and technology diplomacy, and sustainable development, we will uphold the concept of openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit and win-win results, and discuss how to promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind through scientific and technological innovation cooperation.
The third is to keep up with the pulse of the times. Nobel laureate Barry Marshall will deliver a keynote speech on "Innovation and Curiosity-Driven Research" at the Global Health and Development Forum, focusing on basic research hotspots. Mr. Chengtong Yau, a Fields Medal winner, will give a keynote speech on "Women and Scientific Development" at the Global Women in Science and Technology Innovation Forum. Two Turing Award winners, Joseph Sfakis and Chi-Chi Yao, will share the latest progress and future trends in cutting-edge directions such as AI large models at the Future Artificial Intelligence Pioneer Forum.
Reporter's question: The Zhongguancun Forum will open in a few days, and everyone is looking forward to it.
Yu Yingjie answered: Since the preparation of the annual meeting of this forum, we have adhered to the high-end positioning, strengthened the national and internationalization, highlighted the all-round and professional nature, and further improved the influence and leading power of the forum. It is mainly embodied in the "four more":
One is to be more open. Nineteen international organizations and foreign government departments hosted 17 parallel forums, among which UNESCO will host the International Forum on the Decade of Science, and the World Intellectual Property Organization will host two parallel forums, including global science and technology cluster innovation. It is expected that more than 100 countries and regions will participate in the event, of which more than 50% will be foreign speakers. For the first time, the Frontier Competition set up four overseas competition regions in North America, Europe, Asia, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, with international projects accounting for more than 40%. With the support of relevant ministries and commissions of the state, this year will provide foreign guests in need with services such as port visas and facilitation of remittance.
The second is to be more cutting-edge. In addition to the cutting-edge competition, in the parallel forums, results release and technology transactions, we will further carry out ideological collision and scientific and technological exchanges around 6G, brain-computer interface, blockchain, synthetic biology manufacturing and other cutting-edge fields of science and technology. In addition, considering that everyone is very concerned about artificial intelligence, we also took it as the artificial intelligence theme day of the annual meeting of this forum on April 27 this year, and will host 1 theme forum, 4 special forums and 7 special forums, all of which are around large models, embodied intelligence, trustworthy AI and other cutting-edge hot topics at home and abroad, 5 Nobel Prize and Turing Award, including more than 100 celebrities will participate in the meeting, and will also release a number of blockbuster achievements to boost the construction of Beijing's artificial intelligence innovation source and industrial highland.
The third is to pay more attention to practical results. Give full play to the role of the Zhongguancun Forum as a national platform, and use the "meeting" as a medium to attract talents, gather wisdom, and develop industry, throughout the whole process and all sections of the annual meeting of the forum. Through investment in forums such as the Beijing Conference, international cooperation in venture capital, unicorn enterprises, technology trading, cutting-edge competitions and other platforms, a number of technology products have been debuted, a number of major projects have been signed, and a number of innovative achievements have been transformed and implemented.
Fourth, a better experience. It further strengthened the science and technology conference, launched a non-inductive access conference navigation system, a humanoid bionic robot embedded with an AI large model, and AIGC products that can be experienced on site, and comprehensively upgraded the metaverse live broadcast venue to bring a new technological experience to the participants and the public.
In addition, more than 20 colleges and universities participated in the volunteer service of the forum, and volunteers will become a beautiful "landscape" of the annual meeting.
Reporter's question: In the past two sessions of the Zhongguancun Forum, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is one of the organizers, may I ask what work will be promoted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology at this forum, and what are the highlights?
Chen Kelong answered: Holding the Zhongguancun Forum at a high level is an important measure to thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and implement the innovation-driven development strategy. Our department deeply studied the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the 2021 Zhongguancun Forum and the spirit of the congratulatory letter in 2023, strengthened coordination with the Ministry of Science and Technology and Beijing Municipality, and jointly promoted the Zhongguancun Forum to become a "business card" for Beijing's scientific and technological innovation and development. At this forum, our ministry will focus on promoting the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, focusing on the following three aspects.
The first is to run parallel forums with high standards. Focusing on the fields with high global attention and active innovation, six parallel forums have been set up, including the "Future Industry Innovation and Development Forum", "Brain-Computer Interface Innovation Development and Application Forum", "High-end Instrument Innovation and Development Forum", "Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation and Development Forum", "Hydrogen Energy Industry Science and Technology Innovation and Development Forum" and "World Leading Science and Technology Park Development Forum", to build a high-level industry-university-research cooperation and exchange platform. We will actively invite academicians, experts and world-renowned enterprises at home and abroad to participate in the sharing of the industry's latest research discoveries, technological breakthroughs and innovative applications in cutting-edge fields such as brain-computer interface and hydrogen energy, and strive to enhance the international and high-end level of the forum.
The second is to display the achievements of industrial scientific and technological innovation at a high level. Focusing on the theme of the forum, outstanding enterprises in the fields of 5G, industrial Internet, artificial intelligence, humanoid robots, metaverse, brain-computer interface and other fields will be invited to participate in the forum, and the parallel forum will be used as a platform to show the world the major innovation achievements of industrial science and technology. At the same time, at this forum, relevant institutions will release a number of latest research results such as technical white papers and intellectual property reports in the field of industry and information technology.
The third is to promote the docking and implementation of scientific and technological achievements with high efficiency. Taking the International Technology Exchange Conference as an opportunity, leading enterprises, specialized, special and new small and medium-sized enterprises and "little giant" enterprises will release the results at the Technology Exchange Conference, and communicate with investment and financing institutions to promote the implementation of more innovative achievements in Beijing and fully support the construction of Beijing International Science and Technology Innovation Center.
During the forum, while strengthening the coordination between ministries and cities, carefully organizing the forum and other work, our ministry conscientiously did a good job in network, radio and other security work during the forum, and made positive contributions to the high-quality holding of the 2024 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference.
Source: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Zhongguancun