The 2022 Zhongguancun (ZGC) Forum will provide a bridge for international technological exchanges and a platform for mutually beneficial cooperation among entrepreneurs, investors and scientists, industry participants told the Global Times on Monday during a press briefing to mark the 30-day countdown to this year's forum. 

The ZGC Forum, which is of national and international significance, is an embodiment of both China's innovation-centered development strategy and its pursuit of global technological cooperation, despite attempts by certain countries, most notably the US, to disrupt global tech supply chains. 

"The 2022 ZGC Forum will fall between September 22 and 27 in Beijing, setting up six sections, including forum and conference, technology trading, exhibition and results release," Hou Yun, an official from the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission, announced during the press conference on Monday.

According to Hou, the forum will hold a total of 60 sub-forums, double the number in 2021. During the upcoming forum, top scientists, institutions and well-known innovation and entrepreneurial entities from all over the world will discuss the new trends of science and technology around hot topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), medicine and health, energy security and carbon neutrality.

The Exhibition of ZGC Forum, also known as China Beijing International High-tech Expo, will display technological innovation achievements of domestic and foreign institutions and enterprises in the fields of AI, integrated circuits and blockchain technology.

At the same time, the results of the second Qinghai-Xizang scientific research program that started in 2017 and the technological achievements of Chinese academicians will also be displayed to the public in this exhibition area.

A number of tech enterprises and institutions noted during the Monday-conference that the forum has become a window for display communication as well as a bridge to facilitate cooperation among entrepreneurs, investors and scientists.

"In 2020, our team released the first international prototype of quantum direct communication at the ZGC Forum, which can sense eavesdropping and prevent it. After two years of government support, we achieved 100-kilometer quantum direct communication this year, a world record," Long Guilu, vice president of the Beijing Institute of Quantum Information Science, told the Global Times on Monday.

With the help of the forum, more people, especially governments and related entrepreneurs have understood quantum direct communication, initiating the start button for its rapid development towards practical applications and the world, Long noted.

Chen Xuesong, CEO of OXSIGHT China, a company aimed at transforming the lives of people with visual impairment, told the Global Times that when foreign companies enter a new market, what they need most is a platform to communicate and exchange ideas. 

"The Zhongguancun Forum is a national platform, which can help us get better recognition and endorsement. It will allow us to have more access to relevant investment or R&D institutions, so that we can better seize such a development opportunity in the Chinese market," Chen noted.