Emerging Engineering Special Forum held in Beijing

By Wu Xinru 

(ECNS) -- Themed Developing New Quality Productive Forces through the Advancement of Emerging Engineering Disciplines, the Emerging Engineering Special Forum kicked off at Peking University on Saturday as a special session of Beijing Forum (2024), which was jointly organized by Peking University, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, and the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, was held from Friday to Sunday.

The new wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is redefining the global landscape of innovation and creativity, reshaping economic and social structures, and transforming human production and lifestyle, remarked Zhang Jin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of the Emerging Engineering Special Forum. 

In his welcoming remarks at the plenary session held on Saturday morning, Zhang stressed that engineering science and technology have become so critically important that it is emerging as the foremost driving force behind the progress of human civilization as it is becoming ever more integrated with science, industry, universities, and society. 

Zhi Xianwei, mayor of Changping District and director of the Management Committee of Beijing Future Science City, stated that Beijing Forum has evolved into a world-class academic event as the largest, longest-running, and most influential international forum hosted by Peking University. It is poised to inject a fresh impetus into the deep integration of government, industry, academia, and research while offering innovative solutions to help Changping accelerate the development of high-quality productivity.

Gérard Albert Mourou, 2018 Nobel laureate in Physics and chair professor at the School of Physics of Peking University also attended the plenary session and delivered opening remarks.

Other distinguished speakers include Mei Hong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, professor of School of Computer Science at Peking University, Wang Cunyu, member of National Academy of Medicine, foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, chair of the Division of Oral and Systemic Health Sciences at University of California, Los Angeles, alongside with Daniel M. Kammen, academician of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, professor of University of California, Berkeley and Peng Shou, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, chief scientist of China National Building Material Group Co. Ltd., director of the State Innovation Center for Advanced Glass Materials.

Discussions on the Emerging Engineering Special Forum all centered on deep integration of new medical science and engineering disciplines, transformation of energy systems towards low carbon driven by digital technology, and technological innovations in the field of embodied intelligence.