The 2025 Tengchong Scientists Forum: Special Session on New Materials and Industrial Financial Innovation Development commenced in Shanghaion the morning of 30 October, Organized by the Precious Metals Academic Committee of the Chinese Society for Nonferrous Metals, the Platinum Group Metals Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, and the Tengchong Scientists Forum Organising Committee Office, and hosted by the Precious Metals Group and the Yunnan Tengchong Scientists Forum Centre, this event marks the first thematic activity held outside Yunnan in the forum's three-year history. It facilitated academic, technical, and industrial innovation discussions, expanded industrial networks, and inaugurated a new chapter of cross-regional collaboration and open development.
Distinguished attendees included Academician Gu Binglin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, former President of Tsinghua University, and Chairman of the Tengchong Scientists Forum; Duan Debing, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association; Zhang Xiangming, Deputy Secretary-General of the Yunnan Provincial Government and Deputy Director of the Tengchong Scientists Forum Organising Committee; Pan Fusheng, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor at Chongqing University; Tu Shandong, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Professor at East China University of Science and Technology; Lü Jian, Professor at City University of Hong Kong; Teresa, Research Professor at the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials, Spanish National Research Council; Zhou Cheng, Member of the Standing Committee of the Songjiang District Committee and Deputy District Governor of Shanghai; Li Chundong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Sheshan Town, Songjiang District, Shanghai; Qian Feng, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Mayor of Sheshan Town, Songjiang District, Shanghai; Wang Dong, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Li Jianfeng, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Northwest Institute of Nonferrous Metals Research; Wang Jianqiang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Precious Metals Group; and Guo Junmei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice Chairman and General Manager of the Precious Metals Group, among other leaders and experts, attended the meeting. Over 450 leaders, experts, and entrepreneurs from relevant institutions nationwide gathered to discuss the innovative development of new materials and industrial finance. Shang Zhaoqiu, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and Deputy Director of the Tengchong Scientists Forum Organising Committee Office, presided over the opening ceremony.
Opening Ceremony
Vice President Duan Debing delivered the opening address, extending a warm welcome to all attendees on behalf of the organisers. He outlined the operational performance of China's non-ferrous metals industry during the first three quarters of the year, highlighting five key aspects: stable production with steady progress, reasonable investment growth, sustained expansion in total foreign trade volume, pronounced price differentiation, and year-on-year increases in revenue and profits. He noted that the industry's overall development remains stable and positive, with significantly enhanced resilience and further unleashed development potential. He proposed four points for promoting high-quality development in the precious metals sector: first, continuously enhancing self-reliance and strength in science and technology; second, persistently advancing integrated development; third, steadily improving resource security capabilities; and fourth, continuously elevating openness and cooperation levels.
Academician Gu Binglin delivered an address, outlining the three-stage development of the Tengchong Scientists Forum–from inception to establishment, from establishment to refinement, and from refinement to excellence–guided by science and technology shaping the future. He noted that the global new materials industry is currently undergoing accelerated technological iteration and deepening cross-sector integration, with the strategic significance of rare and precious metals becoming increasingly prominent. This event focuses on cutting-edge technologies, industry trends, and market dynamics within the precious metals sector, aiming to facilitate the transition of more technological achievements from research papers to commercial products and the implementation of more projects. It seeks to contribute Chinese wisdom and solutions to the development of the global new materials industry.
Chairman Wang Jianqiang extended a warm welcome and gratitude to the attendees. He provided a multi-layered analysis of the global precious metals industry landscape, outlined the recent achievements of the Precious Metals Group, and detailed its R&D and industrial footprint in Shanghai. He called upon industry peers to embrace global technological frontiers, transforming‘key technology’lists into‘research priorities’and converting‘laboratory innovations’into‘industrial selling points’. Focusing on the main economic front, the Group emphasised prioritising high-end, precision, cutting-edge, and bottleneck technologies while opposing malicious, low-price, disorderly competition. Addressing dual-carbon objectives, it aims to build a‘green-circular-low-carbon’precious metals industrial chain spanning the entire lifecycle. Proactively fostering an open, inclusive, cooperative, coordinated, and orderly industrial environment, the Group seeks to transform precious metals'“irreplaceable”nature into a bridge and bond for‘leading the future’.
Cooperation Project Agreements
The‘dual recruitment’initiative stood as a highlight of the conference, with a series of investment and talent attraction projects signed on-site. Representatives from the Precious Metals Group, alongside enterprises, research institutes, and universities from Jiangsu, Shanghai, Yunnan, and beyond, simultaneously signed agreements. This marked the commencement of nearly twenty strategic collaborations spanning multiple domains: industrial project construction, joint development of exchange and innovation platforms for technology conversion hubs, R&D and application in cutting-edge fields of new materials intelligent manufacturing, and joint research into high-end materials and green core technologies.
The forum provided an in-depth analysis of Yunnan's foundational strengths in developing the new materials industry. It invited experts, entrepreneurs, and investors to engage in substantive discussions on new materials, science and technology, and financial development. Together, they charted new pathways for the integrated advancement of new materials and industrial finance, composing a symphony of industrial upgrading and capital empowerment.
Forum Presentations
Academician Sun Shigang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor at Xiamen University delivered a video presentation entitled‘Electrochemistry of Hydrogen Energy’.
Professor LvJian, Academician of the French National Academy of Technologies and Professor at City University of Hong Kong, delivered a report entitled‘Nano-Scaling of Precious Metal Surfaces: Principles, Processes, and Applications in Energy, Biomedical, and Jewellery Industries’.
José María de Teresa, Academician of the European Academy of Sciences, President of the European Physical Society, and Professor at the Aragón Institute of Nanoscience and Materials in Spain, delivered a report entitled‘Focus on Electron and Ion Beam Nanomanufacturing Technologies and Their Applications in Materials Science’.
Chan Tak Kin, Executive Director of Global Economics and Markets Research at United Overseas Bank, presented a report titled‘China and ASEAN: Challenges and Opportunities Amidst Global Trade Tensions’.
Professor Xiao Wenjing from Central China Normal University delivered a presentation entitled‘Visible Light-Promoted Organic Photochemical Synthesis’.
Ms Pan Peipei, Managing Director of the Platinum Guild International in China, presented on‘Revitalising Platinum Jewellery: Resilience and Authenticity in the Current Climate’.
Mr Nikos Kavallias, Chairman and Managing Director of Metal Focus, delivered a presentation entitled‘Platinum Group Metals Market Fundamentals and Price Outlook’.
Publication of the Precious Metals Blue Book
Finally, the conference released the 2025 Precious Metals Blue Book. Centred on the sustainable development of precious metals and emerging industries, it outlines precious metal supply and demand, applications of new precious metal materials in emerging industries, technological advancements in new precious metal materials, and the status of domestic and international precious metals enterprises. This publication provides the latest and most comprehensive information for the precious metals sector, serving as a reference for industry peers and professionals in technology, economics, finance, and management, thereby driving high-quality development within the precious metals industry.
The forum also featured three parallel sessions:‘New Technologies and Applications in Precious Metals’,‘Resource Recycling and Value Management in Precious Metals’, and‘Precious Metals + AI: New Technologies and Applications’.
