Zhongguancun Forum Photo:VCG

Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the opening ceremony of the 2021 Zhongguancun (ZGC) Forum via video link on Friday, stressing that innovation is the primary driving force behind development.

The five-day sci-tech forum will be held in Beijing from Friday to Tuesday. The theme of this year's forum is "Intelligence, Health, Carbon Neutrality."

China will strengthen international scientific and technological exchanges with a more open attitude, said Xi.

He urged that countries need to step up openness and cooperation in science and technology to jointly solve global problems and meet challenges through sci-tech innovation, in view of the far-reaching impact of COVID-19 and severe challenges facing the world's economic recovery.

China will actively participate in the global innovation network, strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), refine global sci-tech governance, and enhance the well-being of mankind, said the president.

Prior to the opening ceremony, China on Wednesday issued a plan for 2021-2035 to strengthen buildup and protection of IPRs, by accelerating legislation on IPRs in new fields and forms of business, such as big data, artificial intelligence (AI), algorithms and genetic technology.

China supports ZGC in carrying out a new round of pilot reform to build it into a world-leading science and technology park, and to make new contributions to global exchanges and cooperation in science and technology innovation, said Xi.

ZGC is China's first National Innovation Demonstration Zone, and ZGC Forum is a national platform for global scientific and technological innovation exchanges and cooperation.

As an embodiment of the country's innovation-driven growth, ZGC and the ZGC Forum shoulder a significant mission in pursuing national technological advances.

Established in 2007, the ZGC Forum takes "Innovation and Development" as its permanent theme. The 2021 ZGC Forum has made a further step-up on internationalization.

More than 500 companies from around the world will showcase their latest developments at the forum, while more than 400 foreign participants, including scientists, leaders of international organizations, entrepreneurs and investors from around 40 countries and regions will attend the forum and deliver speeches, Jin Wei, vice-mayor of Beijing, said during a press conference on September 15.

All parties will exchange ideas and discuss cooperation and innovation at the forum on cutting-edge and hot topics such as the digital economy, AI, and carbon neutrality.

The forum will also organize the finals of the 2021 Zhongguancun International Frontier Science and Technology Innovation Competition in 12 cutting-edge areas such as biomedicine, integrated circuits and AI.

Through the open roadshow of the competition, a group of world-leading and cutting-edge technology projects and enterprises will be publicly selected from around the world, which will be actively promoted to settle down in ZGC and its sub sci-tech parks.

Global Times