2024 Zhongguancun Forum to be hosted in Beijing

The 2024 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) is held in Beijing from April 25 to 29. Themed "Innovation: Building a Better World," this year's edition will comprise five major sections, including forums and meetings, technology trading, unveiling of achievements, and competitions in cutting-edge fields.

Up to 120 events are planned this year. Over 100 countries and regions, as well as over 150 foreign government departments and international organizations will join the forum.

Photo shows the permanent venue of the Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing. (People's Daily Online/Guo Junfeng)

Founded in 2007, with its enduring focus on innovation and development, the forum is an important exchange platform for China to embrace the global innovation network with an open attitude.

It is reported that a total of 60 parallel forums will be held during the 2024 ZGC Forum. According to Chen Jiachang, vice minister of science and technology, Nobel laureate Barry Marshall will deliver a keynote speech on innovation- and curiosity-driven research at the Global Health and Development Forum; Fields Medal winner Shing-Tung Yau will deliver a report on women and scientific development at the Global Forum on Women in Sci-tech Innovation; Turing Award winners Joseph Sifakis and Andrew Chi-Chih Yao will share the latest development and future trends in artificial intelligence models at a parallel forum on artificial intelligence.

Internationalization is a major feature of the ZGC Forum. Seventeen parallel forums this year are expected to be hosted and organized by 19 international organizations and foreign government departments.

According to Yu Yingjie, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee, the UNESCO will host the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development Forum; the World Intellectual Property Organization will host the Global Science and Technology Clusters Innovation Forum and another parallel forum. Foreign guests from more than 100 countries and regions are expected to participate in these events.

Frontier exploration, achievement sharing, and open collaboration are the prominent features of this year's ZGC Forum. Chen said that focusing on carbon peaking and neutrality, health, clean energy, and other technological fields that directly impact people's lives, the ZGC Forum will establish a trading and sharing platform of scientific and technological achievements for multiple countries and regions through events such as the ZGC International Technology Trade Fair and the Zhongguancun International Advanced Technology Competition.

The ZGC International Technology Trade Fair this year will comprise 30 activities, including the technology trade conference for key countries, four debuts of national-level technology commercialization, and eight launches of high-end, sophisticated and cutting-edge products.

It will bring together more than 6,000 innovation projects from over 40 countries and regions such as the UK, France, Germany and Japan, and release a list of 100 new technologies and new products, as well as a list of 100 international technology transaction projects, continuously building itself into a grand international technology trading event.

The Zhongguancun International Advanced Technology Competition for the first time sets four overseas competition areas, with international projects accounting for over 40 percent of the total, Yu said.

According to him, the eight domestic and overseas competition areas of the 2024 Zhongguancun International Advanced Technology Competition have amassed over 3,100 entries from 75 countries and regions, covering areas such as quantum information, photon computing and metaverse.

"The global finals of the competition will be hosted during the 2024 ZGC Forum, which will offer comprehensive services for participating enterprises such as investment and financing, commercialization and matchmaking," Yu said.

A series of major scientific and technological achievements will be unveiled at the opening ceremony, parallel forums and relevant sections of the 2024 ZGC Forum.

A special release event is scheduled to be held on April 29, where a batch of major original achievements, heavyweight innovative policies, and the latest research reports will be released globally, building the ZGC Forum into a "trendsetter" for cutting-edge technologies and future industries.