Journalists take pictures of humanoid robots at Zhongguancun International Innovation Center, venue for the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum), in Beijing, capital of China, March 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)
The 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum), which focuses on the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial improvement, will happen from March 25 to 29 in Beijing, an official from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) mentioned on Wednesday.
This yr’s discussion board will function greater than 100 occasions and is predicted to draw 1000’s of members from greater than 100 international locations and areas, Lin Xin, vice minister of science and know-how, mentioned at a press convention held by the State Council Information Office to introduce the upcoming occasion.
Four key features will stand out at this yr’s discussion board. They will place a powerful emphasis on increasing the event of worldwide science and know-how innovation facilities, together with advancing coordinated innovation and industrial collaboration within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area.
At the identical time, the annual discussion board will concentrate on fostering deeper integration between technological and industrial innovation. A sequence of specialised boards might be held on frontier fields corresponding to 6G, brain-computer interfaces, and cell and gene remedy, exploring each scientific breakthroughs and industrial purposes, in accordance to Lin.
Promoting the built-in improvement of training, science and know-how, and expertise can even be a serious theme, with main universities, analysis institutes, and industry gamers from China and overseas invited to participate in discussions, the official mentioned.
In addition, in step with China’s broader efforts to broaden opening-up, the discussion board will highlight high-level worldwide cooperation in science and know-how, with a number of themed occasions to advance bilateral and multilateral collaboration frameworks.
The 2026 discussion board is collectively organized by a number of Chinese authorities companies, together with the MOST, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Founded in 2007, this discussion board in Beijing has advanced into a world, complete, open and high-level worldwide occasion for enhancing world innovation in science and know-how, mentioned the report. “Full integration of technological and industrial innovation” is about to be the theme of this yr’s occasion.
At the discussion board this yr, members will get a firsthand sense of how the evolution of synthetic intelligence (AI) is empowering a variety of industries. For instance, AI “interpreters” might be on obligation all through the occasion, increasing their providers from simply Chinese and English final yr to eight languages, together with French, Russian, and Spanish, mentioned Jin Wei, vice mayor of Beijing, at Wednesday’s press convention.
The robotic cafe can even be open to guests. While robots might solely make espresso individually final yr, they’ll now find a way to work collectively to put together full meals. A robotic band can even ship reside performances, mentioned Jin.
The ZGC Forum units itself aside from typical tech conferences by emphasizing the integration of technological innovation with industrial improvement, exploring development paths by the lens of real-world purposes and enterprise apply, a spotlight that’s anticipated to proceed this yr, in accordance to Ma Jihua, a veteran industry analyst who has carefully adopted the occasion.
Ma mentioned that discussion board agenda this yr is aligned with the beginning of the fifteenth Five-Year Plan (2026-30), that includes in-depth discussions on rising industries and key strategic priorities.
More importantly, each massive firms and small and medium-sized enterprises can use this platform to higher perceive traits in know-how and industry, serving to to stabilize expectations and strengthen confidence, an particularly necessary profit in at the moment’s setting.