The establishment of the Grand Neo Bay Green Technology Innovation Alliance is celebrated at the 2024 China Eco-Innovation Forum. [Photo/WeChat ID: sh-italent]

The two-day 2024 China Eco-Innovation Forum recently concluded at the emerging innovation hub of Grand Neo Bay in Shanghai's Minhang district.

More than 500 domestic and foreign scientists, including Nobel Prize laureates, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and experts from various sectors including industry, academia, and research, gathered to discuss the development of green ecological innovation.

Green development is the foundation of high-quality development, and new quality productive forces are inherently green productivity. The 2024 China Eco-Innovation Forum, titled "Ecological Innovation: New Quality Productive Forces, New Energy," was planned by academicians and experts of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It featured three major forums focusing on green carbon science, ecological environmental science, and biomedical science, respectively, as well as six special sessions, bringing together the world's top green technology experts to contribute wisdom to global ecological governance and sustainable development.

The conference was guided by the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the Shanghai Municipal Association for Science and Technology, and the Minhang district government. It was jointly organized by the Grand Neo Bay Sci-tech Innovation Plaza (GNBSIP), the World Laureates Association (WLA), and the Green Catalysis Expert Think Tank.

Professor Bai Chunli, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and former president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in his opening speech that the climate crisis is an urgent issue that requires global cooperation, technological innovation, changes in consumption and production patterns, and increased public awareness. He emphasized the importance of seizing the historical opportunities of the new technological revolution and industrial transformation to promote exchange and cooperation and actively develop new technologies and industries represented by new energy, green equipment manufacturing, energy conservation and environmental protection technologies, and biomedicine, leading green, high-quality development through technological innovation.

Professor Michael Levitt, vice chairman of WLA and 2013 Nobel laureate in chemistry, emphasized in his speech the importance of scientific and technological development in finding new ways to meet the needs of growing populations without damaging the Earth's environment. He stressed the need for global solutions and collective efforts to ensure a better world for future generations.

Wang Liming, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Qinghai Province, expressed during his speech the importance of ecological prioritization in Qinghai, focusing on green initiatives. He said he looked forward to further strengthening cooperation with various parties in the efficient utilization and sustainable development of Qinghai's salt lake resources to jointly create a better future for green, ecological and innovative development.

Chen Yujian, Party secretary of Minhang district, welcomed the experts at the conference and emphasized the district's efforts to enhance its role in technological innovation, support universities in advancing the "Basic Research Special Zone" plan, focus on frontier areas, strengthen collaborative research, and strive for more groundbreaking scientific research results. The district aims to seize opportunities in digitalization, intelligence, and green development, deepen strategic, forward-looking, basic, and leading industrial research layouts, promote the green transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, accelerate the development of future industrial clusters, and provide more convenient innovation services to attract more leading domestic and international scientific talent and young talent to carry out innovative research in Minhang, particularly Grand Neo Bay.

Multiple achievements released

The forum witnessed the unveiling of multiple achievements. Notable projects included the establishment of the WLA-Green Catalysis Expert Think Tank Science and Innovation Base, where innovative projects like the "Click Chemistry" initiative, spearheaded by Nobel laureate Professor K. Barry Sharpless and Professor Dong Jiajia from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, promise groundbreaking advancements in bio-medicine research and application.

Furthermore, a transformation platform (TP3 project) led by esteemed scientists such as Wu Yundong and Chen Kaixian, focusing on the development of new Chinese medicines and medicinal food substances from natural products, is also set to launch at the Grand Neo Bay.

The Grand Neo Bay sci-tech innovation zone is a crucial area in Shanghai for establishing a globally-influential science and technology innovation center and serves as a pivotal region in Minhang district dedicated to fostering high-level technological self-reliance and driving advanced industrial innovation. The official announcement and implementation of a series of green ecological innovation projects is expected to further propel Grand Neo Bay towards becoming a key carrier zone for Shanghai's science and technology innovation center and a world-class innovation hub.

The establishment of the Grand Neo Bay Green Technology Innovation Alliance marked a pivotal moment during the conference, advocating for green ecological technological innovation, industry-academia-research resource integration, and the transformation of research outcomes to propel green ecological technology advancements and industry upgrades to tackle global challenges like climate change, environmental ecology, and health.

The first alliance members include universities, institutes, investors, enterprises, and government departments such as the WLA, the Minhang district government, Springer Nature, China SME Development Fund, and East China Normal University.

Focusing on cutting-edge green technology and academic achievements

As a high-profile academic gathering, the 2024 China Eco-Innovation Forum was brimming with valuable insights and the latest research findings from participating scientists. The opening ceremony featured keynote speeches by esteemed academicians such as He Mingyuan, who shared insights on "Green Carbon Science: The Role of Water" from the perspective of the basic principles of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Other notable presentations included talks by academicians like Bao Xinhao, who discussed the opportunities and challenges faced by process industries in decarbonization under the "dual carbon" goals.

Over the course of the two-day academic conference, experts delved deep into topics such as Green Catalysis and Mesoporous Materials Research, Low-Carbon Development in Petrochemicals, Frontier Research in Synthetic Biology and Synthetic Medicine, Molecular Medicine and Drug Innovation Research, Fundamental Research on New Pollutants, and Chemistry for Environmental Pollution Control. These discussions aimed to explore green technological innovation and the widespread application of advanced green technologies within the framework of six specialized thematic sessions. The planning and execution of the forum's agenda were spearheaded by academicians including Zhang Tao, Xie Zaiku, Yuan Yingjin, Tan Weihong, Jiang Guibin, and Zhao Jincai.

Following the conclusion of the conference, the widely respected academic journal National Science Review will publish a special edition dedicated to the 2024 China Eco-Innovation Forum, systematically documenting and consolidating the academic achievements of the event. The editorial team for this special edition will be led by Academician Bai Chunli, and Academician Su Baolian, member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium.

With the active involvement of top-tier intellects, the 2024 China Eco-Innovation Forum is poised to propel breakthroughs in foundational research and technological advancements in related fields, offering innovative solutions to drive progress towards building a beautiful China and accelerating the realization of the dual carbon goals, injecting new momentum into high-quality development.

The event received robust support from partners such as Bank of China Shanghai Branch, Shanghai Minhang Jiao Tong University Science and Technology Park Operation Co Ltd, and Shanghai Trend Textile Technology Co Ltd, attracting over a thousand attendees from governmental bodies, universities, research institutes, investment firms, and various sectors of society.