On October 16, the first parallel forum of the ZGC Forum 2019 - Hard Technology Innovation and Youth Entrepreneurship, was successfully held in Beijing. The forum was sponsored by the Administrative Committee of Zhongguancun Science Park, and co-hosted by Zhongguancun Entrepreneurial Ecological Development Promotion Association, Zhongguancun Financial and Entrepreneurial Innovation Promotion Association and Zhongguancun Technology Managers Association. With the theme of “Hard Technology Innovation and Youth Entrepreneurship”, this forum invited young founders, entrepreneurs, investors, scientists and other innovative groups from more than 10 countries and regions such as China, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, South Korea, etc., to present the latest technological breakthroughs and entrepreneurial directions in the world, jointly discuss the development trend of world science and technology innovation and the latest innovative thinking, and talk about the new opportunities and new business variables that Hard Technology have changed the world. Zheng Haojun, director of the Science and Technology Communication Center of the China Association for Science and Technology, Weng Qiwen, deputy director of the Management Committee of Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, and other leaders attended the parallel forum.

Weng Qiwen delivered an opening speech at the beginning of the forum. He welcomed all guests to Beijing in October of this autumn to participate in the first parallel forum of the ZGC Forum 2019 - Hard Technology Innovation and Youth Entrepreneurship. The ZGC Forum is jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China Association for Science and Technology and the Beijing Municipal People’s Government, with the annual theme of “Frontier Technology and Future Industries”. This parallel forum was attended by more than 500 representatives from scientific and technological circles and innovative entrepreneurs of 14 countries.

Weng Qiwen said that Zhongguancun, as a banner of China’s innovation and development and the main position, main force and main engine for the construction of Beijing Science and Technology Innovation Center, has been taking “developing hi-tech and realizing industrialization” as its initial aspiration and mission for 30 years. Relying on intensive scientific and educational resources and outstanding talents and capital advantages, Zhongguancun has explored a way to combine science and technology with economy through continuous reform and innovation, cultivated many high-tech industries and formed a good ecology of innovation and entrepreneurship. By the end of 2018, Zhongguancun had more than 22,000 high-tech enterprises with a total income of RMB 5.9 trillion. There were 82 unicorn enterprises, accounting for 40% of the country. At present, Zhongguancun has 353 listed companies, more than 500 business incubators and more than 600 innovative social organizations. More than 1,800 venture capital institutions are active, with the cases and amounts of Angels and Venture capitals accounting for one third of the country’s total. These high-quality innovative and entrepreneurial elements have converged to provide strong support for the incubation of Hard Technology and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in Zhongguancun.

Facing a new round of scientific and technological revolution and opportunities for industrial transformation and development, further improving the whole chain system for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and supporting the development of Hard Technology industries are the important missions of Zhongguancun to support the construction of Beijing’s high-tech economic structure and serve the country’s innovation and development. Young people who are active in the forefront of scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurship in Zhongguancun are the most active and vigorous backbone force. Among the thousands upon thousands entrepreneurs in Zhongguancun, the post-80s and post-90s account for 39% and 11% respectively. Together with young entrepreneurs from other countries in the world, they are using their wisdom and sweat to promote scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurship, and contributing their own strength to the development and progress of human society.

Weng Qiwen said that Zhongguancun will continue to carry forward the culture of “Courage to Innovation and Tolerance for Failure” in the future, and continue to strive to create the best environment for enterprise development, provide the most favorable conditions for the development of small and medium enterprises and young people, and speed up its march to a science and technology innovation center with global influence.

Xue Qikun, vice president of Tsinghua University, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor, and Zhang Ning, director of Scientific R&D Department of Peking University, delivered speeches successively.

Ms. Gao Xinxin, a representative of Zhongguancun entrepreneurs and founding partner of Jiangmen, presided over the “Science and Technology Show” segment and keynote speech. The “Science and Technology Show” segment attracted 15 outstanding young entrepreneurs from all over the world to show on the spot, covering new energy, new materials, industry 4.0, AI and other fields. These young entrepreneurs focused on “Hard Technology” to present their product concepts, technical principles and entrepreneurial orientation. Aaron Guan, founder of Canada Boko Bionanotechnology Co., Ltd., showed us CNW nano whisker environment-friendly material extracted from seafood wastes such as fish, shrimp and crab, which has the unique advantages of high strength, innocuity, environment-friendly and degradation. Ruan Benshuai from Beijing Biwei Jinggong Technology Co., Ltd. told everyone about his pioneering experience of actively carrying out scientific research under the leadership of the professors from Beijing Institute of Technology and developing the first set of all-motor servo-driven precision molding machine in China, thus realizing the localization of glass molding machine.

 Alvaro Montoya, an entrepreneur from Spain, Miao Jianquan, founder of Beijing QIANSHENG EXPLORATION Technology Co., Ltd., and Mi Lei, founding partner of CASSTAR delivered keynote speeches around the theme of the forum. Alvaro Montoya delivered a keynote speech entitled “Innovation with China”. Miao Jianquan delivered a keynote speech on “Innovation and Practice of China’s Civil Satellites”, and described the mental process of a new generation of spacemen joining in the mass entrepreneurship and innovation under the rising tide of civil aviation. Mi Lei pointed out that “Hard Technology will Inevitably Change the World” from the perspective of the development history of Hard Technology.

After the keynote speech, Zheng Haojun, Weng Qiwen, Liu Wentao, director of the Business Department of BCYL, Wen Sijun, secretary of the Haidian District Board of BCYL, and Liu Zhishuo, founding partner of ZRC on behalf of the Innovative Youth - Zhongguancun U30 Initiators, released the list of winners of Zhongguancun U30 2019, and presented awards to 30 outstanding young entrepreneurs. “Innovative Youth - Zhongguancun U30” is an important platform to develop and cultivate the young people’s innovative spirit and entrepreneurial ability. The average age of the winners for 2019 is 30, and the youngest is only 24. The fields covered include advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, bio-medicine, information security and other frontier positions represented by “Hard Technology” and independent core technology with obvious advantages. In the following link of round-table dialogue presided by Wang Tianmiao, PhD tutor of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and honorary director of the Robotics Institute, Philippe VAN DE MAELE, general manager of the Paris-Thackeray Public Administration, Yang Lei, partner of Northern Lights Venture Capital, Shuli Shwartz, general manager of the DRIVE Accelerator of the Israeli Institute of Technology, Jin Qinxian, director of the Institute of Technology Transfer of Tsinghua University, and Yan Zhenjun, executive director of the Capital Institute of Science and Technology Development Strategy, participated in the talks and jointly discussed the current hot issues of “Entrepreneurial opportunities in Hard Technology”, “Investment logic in Hard Technology” and “How to support youth entrepreneurship”, which triggered lively discussion.

After the conclusion of the parallel forum “Hard Technology Innovation and Youth Entrepreneurship”, with the support of the Management Committee of Zhongguancun, the organizer will continue to provide all-round incubation services for the exhibition project, actively promote the rapid flow of domestic and foreign projects, international talents, funds, advanced technology and other resources, actively boost the incubation level of hard science and technology in Zhongguancun, and fully stimulate the entrepreneurial passion of outstanding young talents and the vitality of hard technology innovation.