AI Photo: VCG
The 2025 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) Annual Conference will be held in Beijing from March 27 to 31. As one of the nation's flagship platforms for international tech dialogue, this year's forum is set to unveil China's vision for international collaborative sci-tech innovation, officials announced on Thursday.
The 2025 ZGC Forum will hold 128 events, bringing together more than 1,000 guests from more than 100 countries and regions, facilitating discussions on scientific and technological innovation and new quality productive forces, and providing new ideas for global innovation development, Jin Wei, vice mayor of Beijing, told a press conference on Thursday.
Among the approximately 60 parallel sessions of the forum, a series of specialized discussions and landmark unveilings across frontier fields - from large artificial intelligence (AI) models and embodied intelligence to quantum technology, biopharmaceuticals, 6G and brain-computer interfaces - will take center stage.
Jin noted that the forum will deploy nearly 100 robots from 15 enterprises in scenarios such as reception, communication, performance and service, and humanoid robots will be used as smart assistants at the forum. In addition, AI-related technologies will be used in simultaneous interpretation and promotional material production.
Chen Jing, vice president of the Technology and Strategy Research Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday that AI large models and humanoid robots are poised to dominate discussions at the tech forum, given their symbiotic integration and cross-industry potential to redefine production efficiency.
Chen said that many cities across China have established government-backed sci-tech innovation funds, with Beijing's exemplary role standing out prominently. "The rise of local tech enterprises thanks to financial support further solidify Beijing's position as a leading hub for sci-tech innovation nationwide," he noted.
In 2024, the number of Beijing's national high-tech enterprises reached 29,700. The number and total revenue of local specialized and sophisticated small and medium enterprises that produce novel and unique products each surpassed the "1-million benchmark," according official data revealed at the press conference on Thursday.
Beijing in December 2023 and in June 2024, respectively, established and operated a total of eight municipal investment funds with total funds of 100 billion yuan ($13.83 billion) to reinforce the development of local emerging industries including AI, information technology, healthcare, green and low-carbon technologies, and advanced manufacturing, the Beijing Daily reported on December 30, 2024.
As of the end of 2024, the funds had completed investment decisions on 167 projects in Beijing, with the investment value reaching 17 billion yuan, according to the report.
By providing targeted policy and financial support, Beijing's innovation engine has enabled tech enterprises to save research and development (R&D) costs, accelerating breakthroughs from lab prototypes to industrialized applications, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.
"Through jointly building R&D platforms and collaborative talent development with local universities, the application of technological innovations in Beijing are effectively promoted," he added.
Notably, the Top 10 Scientific Advances of 2024 in China will be announced on the first day of the ZGC Forum. On the final day, the results of the forum, along with a series of innovation policies and authoritative industrial reports, will be unveiled.
In addition, a dozen technology trade events will bring together more than 2,000 professional technology transfer institutions, universities and research institutes, venture capital firms and innovative enterprises from 34 countries, accelerating the supply-demand matching of global innovation resources, Jin told the press conference on Thursday.
