Xi hails innovation forum, calls for advancing global sci-tech cooperation
The 16th Pujiang Innovation Forum has raised its curtain in Shanghai, with the opening ceremony held on Sunday.
With the theme of "Open Innovation Ecosystem: Innovation for Global Connectivity," the three-day forum has attracted more than 300 guests from 32 countries and regions, nearly 40 percent of them from overseas.
Brazil is the Country of Honor, and Hubei the Province of Honor this year.
Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sent congratulatory letters to the forum.
In his letter, Xi noted that today's world is going through accelerating changes unseen in a century, while scientific and technological innovation is an important force for humankind to jointly address risks and challenges and promote peace and development.
He hoped the forum will make new contributions in advancing international scientific and technological cooperation and enhancing the common well-being of humankind.
The 16th Pujiang Innovation Forum has attracted more than 300 guests from 32 countries and regions, nearly 40 percent of them from overseas.
Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining said that Xi's letter expressed a sincere wish to join hands with other countries to create an open, equal, fair and non-discriminatory science and technology development environment.
Activating innovation vitality will be placed as a core in the city's road to deepen reform and opening-up to make bigger breakthroughs, he added.
Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang pointed out that China has formed science and technology partnerships with more than 160 countries and regions.
The ministry will make further efforts to deepen cooperation between government departments and civil groups in science and technology; expand opening and sharing of scientific and technological resources; create an international environment for research; and take deep participation in international science and technology governance.
At Sunday's ceremony, the first entrepreneurship conference called WeStart, and the fourth China-Brazil Innovation Week, were launched.
The China-Brazil Innovation Week, as part of the 16th Pujiang Innovation Forum, kicked off at the Zhangjiang Science Hall in Shanghai.
WeStart, a new part of the forum, acts like a platform to build a bridge between investors and startup projects, mainly in three sectors: biological medicine, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing.
More than 500 incubators and 200 investing institutions would pick up 100 candidates from the 1,000-plus projects to stage road shows, said Lu Min, deputy director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission.
Another highlight of the forum, the Global Tech-Matching Fair, commonly known as Inno-Match Expo, has also kicked off.
After Sunday's opening ceremony, Pietro Barabaschi, director-general of ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Organization; Kumsal Bayazit, chief executive officer of Elsevier; Jin Li, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; He Dongfeng, chairman of Commercial Aircraft Corp of China; and Xu Dongliang, an associate professor at the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, gave speeches at the plenary session.
They shared the latest progress on ITER, Human Phenome Project, large passenger aircraft, etc.
Of these, CACC's He revealed that the company had received 1,061 orders for the C919, China's self-developed large passenger aircraft. And the C929, a wide-body passenger jet scheduled to be fitted with 250-350 seats, has entered the phase of initial design.
According to Bayazit, the quality and the influence of science papers by Chinese authors have both exceeded the world's average level.
She noted that international cooperation in science and technology has become increasingly common, as the share of international collaborative papers has jumped from 10 percent in 1996 to 22 percent in 2022.
A wrestling competition between two robots is put on stage at WeStart, a new part of the forum.
