The 2025 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference (2025 ZGC Forum), with a focus on new quality productive forces, concluded on March 31, with significant results and promotion of international sci-tech cooperation.

AI and humanoid robots caught the eye

AI, as a representative of new quality productive forces, was a crucial part of the forum.

At several parallel sessions on AI, domestic and international experts shared their thoughts on key issues such as embodied AI, artificial general intelligence, AI talent development and AI for Science.

AI is profoundly changing the way we live and work, and embodied AI, as a cutting-edge direction of AI, is showing great application prospects, said Yu Haibin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and researcher at the Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The humanoid robots at the forum vividly displayed the power of AI. The impressive dancing robots at the opening ceremony also had the ability to shake hands with visitors and wave at them. Two humanoid robots functioned as receptionists and a third displayed calligraphy.

Major sci-tech achievements

On the last day of the forum, 19 major sci-tech achievements were disclosed. Some of them were breakthroughs while some are changing people's lives.

Chinese automaker Beiqi Foton's liquid hydrogen-powered heavy-duty truck uses 23 pioneering technologies. Equipped with a 300 kW liquid hydrogen-compatible fuel cell system, a secure onboard liquid hydrogen storage system, and an efficient all-climate thermal management system, it delivers an industry-leading range exceeding 1,000 km.

The NeuCyber Matrix BMI System, jointly developed by the Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing (CIBR, Beijing) and NeuCyber NeuroTech (Beijing), is a sophisticated wireless brain-machine interface (BMI) system.

It features a thin, flexible nano-fabricated 128-channel film microelectrode integrated with a compact micro-circuit for ECoG signal recording and processing. Clinical evidence demonstrates that over 98 percent of the channels remain functional post-surgery.

Luo Minmin, director of CIBR, Beijing, said a patient who became partially paralyzed after a stroke received a NeuCyber Matrix BMI System implant on March 20.

The day after surgery, the patient was able to get off his hospital bed on his own. Now he is undertaking rehabilitation training. He can drive the muscle stimulation device through brain signals.

The BMI works as an "information highway," communicating the signal to the device. The patient is learning and adapting to the method of motor-imagery control quickly, and is expected to gradually realize fine motor control, Luo said.

International sci-tech cooperation a trend

The 2025 ZGC Forum has become an international platform. Guests from 115 countries and regions took part in its different forums and activities, including Nobel laureates, Fields medalists and Turing Award winners. More than 30 technology transfer institutions, 120 universities and research institutes, 200 venture capital institutions, and over 2,000 innovative enterprises from 34 countries participated in the Zhongguancun International Technology Trade Fair.

The Zhongguancun International Advanced Technology Competition attracted over 3,200 projects from 75 countries and regions, covering 14 frontier sci-tech fields, including biomedicine, AI and integrated circuit.

A variety of mechanisms for promoting international sci-tech cooperation were established at different parallel forums. For example, the Beijing Initiative on Digital Science and Technology for Sustainable Development was launched at the International Forum on Sciences for Sustainable Development. It aims to build international platforms for sci-tech cooperation and promote cross-border technology development, data sharing and standard setting.

Liu Tieyan, president of Zhongguancun Academy, said sci-tech progress is a topic of the times and the world, and openness and cooperation is the road to development.