A press conference for the 2024 World Science and Technology Development Forum is held on October 18, 2024, in Beijing. Photo: Leng Shumei/Global Times

The 2024 World Science and Technology Development Forum (WSTDF) will kick off on October 22 in Beijing with a historically high level of participation of overseas guests, the Global Times learned from a press conference held on Friday.

As of Friday, more than 120 overseas guests from 28 countries and regions are expected to attend the forum. Among these attendees are esteemed award recipients, including Nobel Prize and Turing Award winners, officials from the United Nations, international scientific organizations and national institutions, as well as distinguished educators and entrepreneurs, the organizer said at the Friday press conference.

The WSTDF was initiated by the China Association for Science and Technology in 2019 and has been held annually for five consecutive years. Themed on "Science and Technology for the Future," the 2024 WSTDF will focus on six key topics: intelligence, interdisciplinary, infrastructures, innovation, interaction, and integration.

Climate change is a major concerning of attendees to a thematic session scheduled on Wednesday on "Interdisciplinary Science-Based Solutions Toward Sustainable Development (Interdisciplinary)" during this year's forum.

Sustainable development means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability to meet the needs of future generations. However, climate change is eroding this foundation, making us face unprecedented difficulties in pursuing a balance between economic growth, social progress and environmental protection. It can be seen that climate change is not only a scientific issue, but also a social and economic issue. Exploring effective common response strategies, especially mitigating the effects of climate change through technological innovation and international cooperation, has become the key to achieving UN Sustainable development Goals, Jiao Nianzhi, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief scientist of the Global Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions (Global ONCE) initiative under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, told the Global Times at the Friday press conference.

Jiao reiterated the necessity of international cooperation to deal with climate change.

In addition, another thematic session on "integration," themed on "Science and Technology for Risk-Informed Sustainable Development (Integration)," will be carried out on October 24.

A declaration of scientific action recommendations is expected to be announced after the session in order to strengthen international scientific cooperation and promote a consensus on development security, which will provide strong references for governments and international organizations in formulating disaster risk management and sustainable development policies, Yang Saini, executive director of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk, International Programme Office, said at the press conference.

The declaration will be further developed into a policy brief and set to be released at a conference organized by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) from scheduled in June 2025, according to Yang.

The opening ceremony and awards ceremony of the 2024 World Laureates Forum (WLF) in Shanghai will be included in the 2024 WSTDF series activities for the first time. Five global leading scientists will deliver keynote speeches at the opening ceremony, including Cypriot economist and the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics winner Christopher Pissarides, Chinese physicist and China's 2023 State Preeminent Science and Technology Award Xue Qikun, Chen Wenxin, an official from the World Laurerates Forum, said at the press conference.

This year, the 2024 WLA Prize in Computer Science or Mathematics will recognize Jon Kleinberg, Tisch University Professor of Computer Science & Information Science at Cornell University, "for seminal contributions at the interface of computer science and social science including intellectual leadership in social networks and algorithmic fairness."

The 2024 WLA Prize in Life Science or Medicine recognizes: Jeremy Nathans, Professor at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, and Department of Neuroscience, and Samuel Theobald, Professor at the Wilmer Eye Institute (Department of Ophthalmology) at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the Investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, "for discovering the genes, regulation and plasticity underlying human color vision and elucidating disease mechanisms that lead to blindness."

Both will receive their awards in person, according to Chen.

Also a part of the 2024 WSTDF, the 11th China-Russia Engineering Technology Forum will be held in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, between October 28 and 29.

The forum has successfully hosted for 10 consecutive years since 2014. It reflects the expectations and enthusiasm of the scientific and engineering communities of both countries for promoting technological and cultural exchanges and cooperation. It also demonstrates vitality and energy characterized by equality, mutual trust, inclusiveness, mutual learning, and win-win cooperation, laying a solid foundation for the continuous deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Russia, Jia Xinying, director of the office of the Heilongjiang Association for Science and Technology, said at the Friday press conference.