Forum opens in Chongqing
The 2026 World Science and Technology Development Forum opened in Chongqing on 21 October with about 800 participants, including experts and scholars, examining how automotive technology, robotics and other advances could shape future industries, the organisers said in the release.
Calls for cooperation and governance
Wang Guangqian, president of the China Association for Science and Technology, called for technological breakthroughs, closer integration of technological and industrial innovation, greener development and stronger technology governance, saying future industries link science and technology with the economy. Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, described engineering as a bridge between scientific discovery and industrial practice, and said reaching the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals requires stronger international scientific cooperation and participation by all countries and communities.
Cars, robots and outbreak modelling
Zhu Huarong, chairman of China Changan Automobile Group, said cars were evolving from transport tools into "self-evolving intelligent car robots", with the industry drawing in AI, chips, communications and big data and extending into energy and urban governance. In Chongqing, he said, vehicle-road-cloud data integration supports traffic management, while vehicle-to-grid interaction and integrated energy systems could turn vehicles into mobile nodes in green energy networks.
David Lopez Perez of Universitat Politècnica de Valencia set out applications from urban drones and industrial inspection robots to humanoid assistants for older adults, saying robots must reason, plan and coordinate with support from digital twins, intelligent systems and future 6G networks, and that interoperability and standardisation remain essential. Nils Stenseth of the University of Oslo described using air travel data to build a digital twin model exploring how local epidemics might be prevented from becoming global pandemics, citing multisource data, digital technologies and a strong global surveillance network.
Foresights and parallel sessions
The opening ceremony also released the Top 10 Science and Technology Foresights of 2026, covering areas including AI, brain-computer interfaces and space resource development, alongside an intelligent sensing industry map and other outcomes. Held in Chongqing for the first time since its launch in 2019, the forum ran through 23 October with 12 parallel forums on intelligent sensing, AI-powered simulation, embodied intelligence, smart manufacturing, green energy and new-energy vehicles, among other fields.