Frontier technologies take center stage

Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference attracts experts from over 100 countries and regions

Top scientific achievements and frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence, humanoid robots and life sciences, took center stage at the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference, which concluded on Monday in Beijing, attracting scientists, officials and business representatives from more than 100 countries and regions.

The five-day event, also known as the ZGC Forum, featured 128 activities across five categories: forums, technology trade, achievement releases, innovation competitions and supporting events, all under the theme "New Quality Productive Forces and Global Science and Technology Cooperation".

During a plenary session, Daren Tang, director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, highlighted the growing dominance of digital technologies like AI and quantum computing in patent applications, accounting for approximately one-third of the global total.

Patent applications in generative AI have surged by more than 800 percent since 2017, with China, the United States and South Korea leading the way.

He noted that digital innovation is transforming automobiles into sophisticated four-wheeled computers, with Zhongguancun, Beijing's technology hub, at the forefront of this evolution, boasting more than 10,000 high-tech enterprises, including emerging global players like Zhipu AI and Kimi.

Zhongguancun Science Park is a member of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation. In her address, Ebba Lund, CEO of the association, underscored the importance of interpersonal connections, adding that events like the ZGC Forum offer valuable opportunities for global innovation.

French physicist and Nobel laureate Gerard Mourou, another speaker, has been involved in the development of the Beijing Laser Acceleration Innovation Center and a laser-driven facility at Peking University.

Mourou revealed that his team has constructed a laser proton accelerator that could potentially treat diffuse tumors. He expressed his commitment to leveraging Beijing's cutting-edge facilities and academic resources to drive breakthroughs in laser science and its industrial applications.

The opening ceremony of the conference saw the unveiling of China's top 10 scientific advances of 2024, showcasing breakthroughs in mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, information science, energy and other realms.

Notable achievements included the lunar samples retrieved by the Chang'e-6 mission, which revealed volcanic activity on the far side of the moon dating back 2.8 billion years, intelligent reasoning systems using large-scale photonic computing chips, and critical evidence demonstrating how supermassive black holes affect the formation and evolution of their host galaxies.

The conference culminated with the release of 19 major scientific and technological achievements from China, showcasing the country's progress in advanced technology, cross-sector collaboration, and innovation-driven and people-centered development.

Among the achievements were an in-orbit experimental testbed for satellite computing, a prototype system of intelligent and concise endogenous 6G wireless networks, and the world's first approved targeted inhibitor for glioma, a type of brain tumor.

The China Science Fiction Convention 2025, a key part of the ZGC Forum, was held from Friday to Monday at Beijing's Shougang Park. More than 1,000 Chinese and international representatives from sectors such as technology, science fiction, and film and television attended the opening ceremony.

Talent exchange was a major focus at this year's ZGC Forum, which featured the Beijing International Youth Innovation and Development Forum, the AI for Science Youth Forum, and a forum on innovation and entrepreneurship for overseas-educated talents.

Furthermore, a forum on women in sci-tech innovation was held to empower female professionals and stimulate innovative energy across diverse talent pools.

As part of the 2025 ZGC Forum, an outdoor science popularization event took place from Friday to Sunday at Beijing's Haidian Park. Technologies such as embodied intelligence and virtual reality were showcased, offering the public hands-on experiences with robotics, wearable exoskeletons and autonomous smart vehicles.

Established in 2007 with the permanent theme of "Innovation and Development", the ZGC Forum has grown into a comprehensive platform for advancing global innovation and cooperation in science and technology.

huyuyan@chinadaily.com.cn