The 2018 Pujiang Innovation Forum is set to help drive Chinese innovation to even higher levels, with a series of high-profile activities that will explore future trends, according to organizers.

Initiated in 2008, Pujiang Innovation Forum is a high-level international forum jointly organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Shanghai municipal government.

Over the past decade, the forum has dedicated itself to creating a platform for exchanges about innovative developments; the dissemination of advanced concepts; the communication of academic ideas; interactions between governments, industry, universities and institutions; the publication of the latest policies; and international cooperation in the fields of science and technology, organizers said.

The 2018 Pujiang Innovation Forum, which will be held from Oct 29 to Nov 1 in Shanghai, has been organized around the theme "Innovation-Driven Development and Supply-Side Structural Reform in A New Age".

Tang Yuli, deputy director of the Ministry of Science and Technology's policy and regulation department, said the event will respond to concerns over innovation and development worldwide, track the requirements for China to promote high-quality development, and involve in-depth discussions on the revolutions in quality, efficiency and momentum that have been promoted by innovations in science and technology.

According to the forum organizers, nearly 200 guest speakers are due to attend this year, setting a new record. About 49 percent of them will be scientists and scholars, with entrepreneurs accounting for about 28 percent, government officials about 23 percent, and foreign guests about 25 percent.

In addition to the opening ceremony and regular plenary sessions, the organizer has arranged four special sub-forums this year: the Science and Technology Innovation Roundtable Summit for Young Innovators, the Green Technology Bank Summit Forum, the China-Portugal S&T Innovation Cooperation Workshop and the Belt and Road: Technological Innovation and Cooperation Roundtable. There will also be 11 roundtables on various topics such as entrepreneurship, regional issues, finance, policies, industries, future science and culture.

Forum highlights

As China seeks more high-quality development, new requirements will need to be met, which is why this year's event is exploring a number of new aspects through its special sub-forums.

The role of young people in the country's future development will be one such aspect, with the forum hosting the Science and Technology Innovation Roundtable Summit for Young Innovators for the first time.

Regional connectivity, another hot topic, will also be covered with a series of regional and city development forums.

Through high-level dialogues and conversations, Pujiang Innovation Forum aims to facilitate the integration and efficient use of innovation resources, and lend impetus to the formation of a coordinated, sustainable, innovative development pattern for China and the world.

In particular focus this year will be Guangdong, the 2018 Province of Honor, with plans for in-depth participation regarding the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone.

A series of cooperation agreements, including the Strategic Cooperation Agreement on the Yangtze River Delta Region to Accelerate the Construction of the Regional Innovation Community, will be signed during the forum. Research results on regional innovation, integration, development and planning, such as a paper on the proposed "hydrogen corridor" in the Yangtze River Delta, will also be released.

Future trends are set to be addressed thanks to two future science sub-forums organized by renowned academic journal Nature and Fudan University, called "Understanding Complexity to Foster Innovation" and "Promoting Development in Human Phenome Research".

These two sub-forums will attract world-class scientists and renowned academicians, according to organizers, reflecting the forum's global outlook.

Platform-based think tank

The forum has also worked to enhance the way it functions as a think tank, with nearly 200 Chinese and foreign experts, scholars, scientists, entrepreneurs and government officials from around the world set to hold discussions about innovations in science and technology. Topics will include how to grasp the development requirements of China's new era and deepen the implementation of innovation-driven development strategies, how to target the world's technological frontiers and seek integrated development of science and technology, and how to manage the move toward new energy sources.

The forum will also work with the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Shanghai Institute for Science of Science, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, to jointly release a series of research results.

These will include the 2018 Evaluation Report on Regional Science and Technology Innovation of China, the 2018 Annual Observation on the Ecosystem of Science and Technology Finance in China, the 2018 Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center Index Report, and the 2018 Asia-Pacific Knowledge Competitiveness Index Report.