Anchoring the integration of science and industry, striving forward toward new horizons—2026 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference opens

Original Title: Anchoring the Integration of Science and Industry, Striving Forward Toward Innovation—The 2026 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference Opens

◎By Our Reporter Sun Mingyuan and Hua Ling

A fresh spring breeze is blowing through, and Zhongguancun in Beijing is once again welcoming guests from around the world. On March 25, the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference officially opened at the Beijing Zhongguancun International Innovation Center. During the five-day conference, more than a thousand guests from over 100 countries and regions will cross mountains and seas to gather in Beijing, sharing insights on cutting-edge technology trends and discussing major plans for industrial change.

This year’s forum annual conference, themed “Deep Integration of Technological Innovation and Industrial Innovation,” has set up five major sections: forum sessions, achievement releases, technology transactions, frontier competitions, and supporting activities. As a national-level open innovation platform, Zhongguancun Forum continues to play a bridging role in promoting the “two-way pursuit” of technology and industry.

Five Major Sections Join Forces to Unblock the Entire Chain of Achievement Transformation

Technological achievements cannot be only prototypes in laboratories; they can be transformed into new productive forces only on the production line. Among the five sections of this year’s forum annual conference, from inside to outside the venue, and from academic exchange to capital matchmaking, all focus on the implementation and landing transformation of technological innovation achievements on the industry side.

This year’s forum annual conference will hold 60 parallel sessions. Of these, 21 parallel sessions are making their debut for the first time. Lin Xin, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, introduced at the pre-conference press briefing that the topic setup of this year’s conference follows the global wave of science and technology closely, focusing on in-depth discussions in frontier technology and future-industry integration fields such as 6G communications, brain-computer interfaces, and cell and gene therapies.

Technology transactions are one of the “headline acts” of the Zhongguancun Forum in past years, and also a key link in fostering deep integration between technological innovation and industrial innovation. During this year’s forum annual conference, the technology transaction section will conduct intensively more than 20 specialized matchmaking activities. The organizing committee has selected more than 500 high-quality domestic and international science and technology projects to participate in on-site roadshow promotion, and the number of investment institutions that have registered is the highest in history.

During the conference, eight major brand events will also be held, including the Zhongguancun Technology Achievement Transformation Forum for 50 People, the Annual Meeting of the Global Technology Managers Collaboration Network, the Matchmaking Meeting for Coordinated Innovation and Development among Large, Medium, and Small Enterprises, the Featured Matchmaking Session for Technology Transfer and Transformation among Universities and Research Institutes, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Technology Transaction Results Matchmaking Meeting, the Featured Matchmaking Session for Technology Transactions among Key Countries, the Featured Matchmaking Session for Major Scientific and Technological Achievements, and the District Governors’ Reception Lounge.

Frontier Achievements Take the Stage Together, Enabling a New Height of International Exchange

As an important indicator of global scientific and technological innovation, the release of achievements at past Zhongguancun Forums has always been a highlight. At the opening ceremony of this year’s Zhongguancun Forum annual conference, a number of major achievement reports with global impact were officially released, including “Global Engineering Frontiers 2025,” the “Open Science International Cooperation Action Plan,” and “China’s Top Ten Scientific Advances of 2025.”

At the special-session release event, many frontier industry contents will also be announced. In the intersection of medicine and artificial intelligence (AI), the forum will release the “International AI Hospital Intelligent Consortium Consensus,” which is the world’s first guiding document that systematically defines the connotations and capability framework of AI hospitals from an international perspective; in the area of urban governance, the “Tsinghua Urban Health Index” will be released for the 6th consecutive year. In addition, this year’s forum annual conference will establish the “Tongzhi Industry Brain Alliance,” unveil the Beijing Frontier Brain-Computer Interface Research Institute, and release 2026 innovative achievements in brain-computer interfaces.

The value of technological achievements cannot be separated from the products that serve as their carriers. Benoît Dubié, President of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, said in his opening speech that the theme of this year’s forum annual conference is highly significant for the times, and that the true value of technology lies in its application. He noted that Chinese and enterprises and investors from various countries are actively carrying out international cooperation, and researchers are also advancing technology and product R&D through platforms such as system integration laboratories.

Jia Yiwei, Standing Member of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of Zhongguancun Development Group, said that this year, Zhongguancun Forum will work with eight major cooperation partners and more than 60 member units to jointly build an “ecosystem” for technology innovation exchange and cooperation. This year’s forum, together with AstraZeneca, Kunlun Wanwei, Sugon, and Dark Side of the Moon, among other Global Fortune 500 companies and high-growth technology enterprises, will build a diversified and collaborative technology exchange ecosystem through formats such as corporate special sessions and inspection and matchmaking.

Bulgarian embassy official Dimitar Tomov, who attended the opening ceremony, mentioned that the Zhongguancun Forum annual conference demonstrates China’s leading position in the global intelligent technology revolution. He hopes that Bulgaria and China can maintain long-term interaction in the field of science and technology, and jointly promote industrial transformation. “The forum provides an important bridge for cooperation among international science and technology parks.” Salvatore Majoirana, director of the Italian “Red Kilometer” Science Park, told reporters that he is very optimistic about the prospects for cooperation between China and Europe in technological innovation and industrial transformation.

)(Sun Mingyuan and Hua Ling)

Original Title: Anchoring the Integration of Science and Industry, Striving Forward Toward Innovation—The 2026 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference Opens Source: Science and Technology Daily

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