On February 20, Wang Ning, the Secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee, held working talks in Kunming with Academicians Gu Binglin, former President of Tsinghua University; Xu Zhihong, former President of Peking University; and Rao Zihe, former President of Nankai University. The discussions focused on preparing for the 2024 Tengchong Scientist Forum and promoting its further development to achieve greater success.
Wang Ning expressed gratitude to the three former presidents for their dedicated efforts in organizing the Tengchong Scientist Forum. He noted that through their collective efforts, the forum has evolved from its inception to excellence, attracting numerous high-end talents to Yunnan and facilitating the implementation and transformation of various scientific achievements. These efforts have injected robust momentum into Yunnan’s innovative development.
Currently, the province is thoroughly studying and implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the important speeches made by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his visit to Yunnan. The focus is on the "3815" strategic development goals, accelerating economic transformation and upgrading, and promoting high-quality, leapfrog development. Wang Ning hopes that the forum will balance its high-end, inclusive, and public-oriented nature, uphold its mission of technological innovation, and its responsibility for technology transfer, continuously expanding international scientific exchange, improving its organizational mechanisms and operating methods, and promoting the deep integration of innovation and industrial chains. This will help convert Yunnan's unique strengths in highland agriculture, biological resources, mineral resources, and green energy into economic development strengths, contributing to both regional and national development. He assured that they will continue to improve the forum's supporting facilities, provide first-class service guarantees, and foster a favorable environment for innovation and entrepreneurship. Wang Ning expressed confidence that the forum will become increasingly brilliant and yield even more fruitful results.
The three former presidents proposed ideas and suggestions for further enhancing the quality of the Tengchong Scientist Forum. They noted that the forum has successfully elevated its status with each successive event, gaining increasing domestic and international influence and demonstrating strong vitality. They expressed their willingness to uphold the spirit of the Southwest Associated University and the spirit of scientists, attract high-end technological innovation talents from home and abroad, and, leveraging Yunnan’s unique resource advantages and industrial development needs, establish branded sub-forums such as the Industrial Innovation Development Forum, Presidents' Forum, Entrepreneurs' Forum, Fintech Forum, and Women Scientists’Forum. These efforts aim to accelerate the transformation of innovative achievements into productive forces, empower Yunnan's modernization, and support the nation's high-level technological self-reliance and strength.
Attendees included Qiu Jiang, Zhang Zhili, Liu Chunming, Dean of the Modern Agricultural College of Peking University, as well as responsible comrades from the Provincial Department of Science and Technology, the Provincial Association for Science and Technology, Baoshan City, and the Tengchong Scientist Forum Center.
