The 2nd World Science and Technology Development Forum (WSTDF 2020) was held in Beijing on November 8, 2020.

WSTDF 2020 is held in Beijing on November 8, 2020.

Wan Gang, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and president of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), addressed the opening ceremony.

Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, assistant director-general for the Natural Sciences of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Daya Reddy, president of the International Science Council (ISC), Gong Ke, president of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), Kazuki Qkimura, former chairman of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and Li Xiaohong, president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) delivered speeches respectively.

34 international and national organizations, together with the World Laureates Association (WLA) sent congratulatory letters to the forum.

The opening ceremony of the forum was presided over by Huai Jinpeng, executive vice president and chief executive secretary of CAST, and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Wan Gang pointed out that the fifth plenary session of the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee places upholding the central role of innovation in the modernization drive at the top of the priority and decides to take new steps in reform and opening up, which means that China will take further steps to expand cooperation in science and technology with its global peers to activate the momentum of innovation.

It is in urgent need for global scientific community to join hands to promote openness, inclusiveness and mutual trust to contain COVID-19 pandemic, restart the world economy and improve people’s livelihood, added Wan.

He put forward his three expectations:

--To build up a barrier-free and non-discriminatory scientific community and enhance mutual trust;

--To hold high the banner of peace, development and cooperation and concentrate innovative forces to promote health and development of human beings;

--To advocate joint research among countries and deep integration of industry, university and research institutes to achieve world economy recovery and sustainable development.

Wan Gang, vice chairman of the CPPCC National Committee and president of CAST addresses the opening ceremony of WSTDF 2020 in Beijing on November 8, 2020.

The forum invited more than 30 academicians, well-known experts, university presidents, and heads of sci-tech enterprises of 21 countries from 5  continents and 5 international organizations including United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD), UNESCO, ISC, WFEO and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as well to have discussions and exchange ideas.

More than 200 representatives from China's academic societies, well-known enterprises, universities and research institutes attended the forum.

Bai Chunli, President of the CAS, Efthymios Nicolaidis, permanent secretary of the International Academy of the History of Science, Paul Romer, co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics Sciences, former chief economist and senior vice president of World Bank, Sui Zhenjiang, deputy mayor of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, Arturo Bris, professor of finance at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center, Zhang Bo, professor at Tsinghua University and academician of the CAS, Robin Li, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Baidu Inc., Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, winner of the ACM Turing Prize, and founder of the Open Data Institute, and William Xu, director of the board and president of the Institute of Strategic Research of China's telecommunication giant Huawei, delivered keynote speeches respectively focusing on topics of "Scientific Revolution and Human Civilization Evolution", "Regional Innovation and Policy Environment for Innovation" and "Digital Economy and Inclusive Growth".

Harry Shum, adjunct professor at Tsinghua University, foreign member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in the U.S. , and international fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the U.K., Gong Ke, Xue Lan, dean of the Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University, Qiao Jie, academician of the CAE and president of the Peking University Third Hospital, Pu Muming, academician and director of the Institute of Neuroscience Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology of the CAS, Eric Horvitz, chief scientific officer of Microsoft, Luciano Floridi, professor of philosophy and ethics of information and director of the OII Digital Ethics Lab at the University of Oxford, and Peter-Paul Verbeek, professor of philosophy at the University of Twente in Netherland and chairperson of the UNESCO World Commission on the Ethics of Science and Technology (COMEST) conducted high-level dialogues to exchange ideas on issue of scientific ethics and science culture.

Co-sponsored by the UNESCO, the ISC, WFEO and the JST, and sponsored by CAST, the CAS and the CAE, WSTDF 2020 was held both online and offline, attracting 26 million live-streaming viewers according to incomplete statistics.

Under the theme of "Trust·Cooperation·Development", the two-day forum consists of 5 parallel sessions naming "World Digital Economy Forum", "Technology-based SMEs Innovation Forum", "Innovation and Cooperation Forum of Open Science and Open Source", "Women in Science", and "Technology Services and Trade Forum" respectively, aiming to build a worldwide inspiration generator, an international cooperation platform and a sci-tech innovation engine as well to promote the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Tag: Academic & societies