In early winter, Tengchong, known as the "First City at the Frontier," once again became the focus of the world as numerous distinguished guests and top figures gathered there.
From December 1 to 3, the 2023 Tengchong Scientists Forum, co-hosted by the Yunnan Provincial Government and the China Association for Science and Technology, was successfully held. The event brought together 109 academicians, 47 university presidents, 520 experts and scholars, and 378 entrepreneurs and financial institution leaders.
The Tengchong Scientists Forum, with the aim of "Science Leading the Future" and the theme "Science · Green Development," facilitated dialogue and exchange, promoted scientific cooperation, and encouraged innovation and development. It brought together a global perspective and professional spirit to jointly map out ideas for scientific innovation, stimulate new momentum for scientific cooperation, and promote the formation of a new pattern of extensive, broad, deep, and high-level international scientific and technological innovation cooperation. Successfully held for two consecutive years, the forum is becoming a new platform for international scientific and cultural exchanges.
December 1: The 2023 Tengchong Scientists Forum Opens
Highlights Galore
During the forum, the opening ceremony, main forum, closing ceremony, ten sub-forums, and a series of supporting activities were held. Over 150 keynote speeches and reports were delivered by invited renowned experts and scholars, Nobel laureates, academicians, university presidents, and entrepreneurs from home and abroad.
At the opening ceremony on December 1, Zhang Yaping, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Gu Binglin, Chairman of the Tengchong Scientists Forum, Chen Yulu, President of Nankai University, and Park Siyong, Vice President of Peking University, delivered speeches. Vice Minister of Science and Technology Chen Jiachang, Shenzhou 13 astronaut Ye Guangfu, and Nobel laureates Yang Zhenning, Barry Sharpless, Kurt Wüthrich, and Roger Kornberg sent video messages wishing the 2023 Tengchong Scientists Forum great success.
During the forum, top scientists and renowned entrepreneurs addressed topics such as biodiversity and modern agricultural development, immunoscience and clinical translation, technological and financial innovation development, technology-empowered media integration development, and the exhibition and application of technological innovation achievements. They presented new academic insights and shared their expertise, achieving the goals of intellectual exchange, global scientific resource integration, and the promotion of technological achievements.
The forum established the Tengchong Science Awards, the first scientific and technological award initiated and evaluated by social forces in mainland China. It is also the first award named after a border city. The inaugural Tengchong Science Award was granted to Lu Yuming, a Hong Kong scientist recognized as a global pioneer in liquid biopsy and the "Father of Non-invasive Prenatal Testing," and Zhang Feng, a Chinese-American scientist acknowledged as a pioneer in CRISPR-Cas gene editing technology.
The establishment and awarding of the Science Awards have garnered attention and support from scientists in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, among other regions. The brand's reputation and recognition continue to grow. The Tengchong Scientists Forum is progressing towards becoming a grand event in the scientific community, akin to China's "Tech Davos," serving as a window and brand for flexible talent attraction in Yunnan and across the nation.
In an interview, Lu Yuming expressed his honor at being the recipient of the inaugural Tengchong Science Award. He hopes to transform Tengchong into a scientific hub and encourages more students from Yunnan to join his research team.
Rich Achievements
The 2023 Tengchong Scientists Forum boasted high specifications, substantial results, and significant influence, promoting the spirit of science and scientists. It established platforms for advanced academic exchange, interaction between government, industry, academia, and research, technology transfer, and scientific cooperation between China and South Asia and Southeast Asia, laying a solid foundation for creating an international, high-end, and distinctive "Tech Davos Forum."
During the forum, over 90 talent introduction projects and more than 100 investment attraction projects were signed, with a total investment exceeding 62 billion RMB. More than 1,000 major technological cooperation needs were collected, covering key industries such as digital economy, biomedicine, advanced equipment manufacturing, modern logistics, and food and consumer goods processing and manufacturing.
Zou Zhigang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of the Environmental Materials and Renewable Energy Research Center at Nanjing University, remarked, "Tengchong is a beautiful, livable, and vibrant city. I believe everyone who visits Tengchong will leave with wonderful memories. This time, we held an energy materials sub-forum, and indeed, energy and materials are inseparable."
Zou Zhigang believes that only new energy sources with higher energy density can replace existing ones; they must be environmentally friendly to adapt to societal development, especially low-carbon, high-quality development. This aligns with the nation's needs for energy structure transformation, energy security, and innovative high-quality development.
Since the 2022 Tengchong Scientists Forum, the Tengchong Scientists Forum Center was established, and the Tengchong Scientists Forum Development Foundation was set up. Plans were made for the permanent site of the Tengchong Scientists Forum, creating an open, inclusive, diverse, and mutually beneficial academic exchange platform under the model of "monthly lectures, quarterly forums, and annual grand events."
During the 2023 Tengchong Scientists Forum, Tengchong City adhered to the market-oriented direction, and the forum model of "enterprise-led, market-operated, government-supported" showed significant results. Social capital accounted for 85% of the forum's funding, with over 100 units participating in parallel forums and special activities, achieving market-driven operations with total revenue exceeding 20 million RMB.
The forum received widespread media attention from central, provincial, municipal, and Hong Kong and Macao media, as well as government new media. On the opening day alone, over 4,000 news reports were published, with total online information views exceeding 97 million.
Bright Prospects
In his video message at the 2023 Tengchong Scientists Forum opening ceremony, Roger Kornberg, the 2006 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Chairman of the World Association of Top Scientists, and Professor of Structural Biology at Stanford University, stated that the Tengchong Scientists Forum's mission—"Science Leading the Future"—aligns with the goals of the World Association of Top Scientists.
Roger Kornberg highlighted that the Tengchong Scientists Forum focuses on scientific innovation and industrial development, promoting international scientific cooperation, including the Young Scientists Forum and the Industry Innovation Development Forum. The content of the Tengchong Scientists Forum is very similar to that of the World Association of Top Scientists Forum. Both aim to advance scientific progress together.
