Pujiang Innovation Forum Calls for Deeper Collaboration Amid Changes

SHANGHAI, Sept. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A Report from Science and Technology Daily: 

"If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go with friends." During the 2026 Pujiang Innovation Forum held in Shanghai from September 11 to 14, Motlalepula Gilbert Matsabisa, professor of pharmacology at the University of the Free State, South Africa, recounted this proverb to Science and Technology Daily.

That spirit ran through the forum. Themed "Sharing Innovation and Shaping the Future: The Mission of the Global Sci-Tech Community amid a New Round of Sci-Tech Revolution," it brought together scientists, policymakers and industry practitioners from more than 50 countries and regions, plus over 20 international organizations.

Over four days, the event featured an opening ceremony, a main forum, 24 sub-forums under three major tracks: basic research, future industries and innovation ecosystems, alongside a range of supporting exhibitions and themed sessions. Discussions spanned cutting-edge areas including AI, quantum science, brain-computer interfaces and biomedicine.

South Africa took on the role of this year's Country of Honor, the first African nation to hold this position, and as part of the Country of Honor program running alongside the forum, the South Africa Pavilion showcased more than 10 projects covering agriculture, medicine, aerospace and hydrogen energy.

Matsabisa, also one of the exhibitors at the pavilion, said the designation put South Africa on the global stage and let the world see its innovation capacity.

At the start of the forum, Eric Rafahele, political and economic counsellor at the South African Embassy in China, hoped it would expand sci-tech cooperation between South Africa and China, and help both explore new areas of collaboration.

Many frontier scientific and technological challenges facing the world today require joint efforts across borders. A string of landmark initiatives were announced at the forum to advance global open innovation and fair academic governance.

Shanghai reached consensus with UNESCO to jointly launch the Global Innovative Cities Alliance, a platform to pool urban innovation wisdom worldwide, boost cross-city collaborative innovation and foster an open, inclusive and sustainable global sci-tech future.

It also released the 2025 World-Class Sci-Tech Journal Directory. The directory's evaluation framework delivers an impartial global academic assessment of journals from emerging economies and newly launched publications, helping build a more balanced global academic ecosystem.

A suite of hard-tech breakthroughs was showcased, including the Pearl Constellation Initiative for space-based computing infrastructure and CAR-T therapy for solid tumors.

Also rolled out were 10 landmark basic research questions covering the mathematical foundations of AI, quantum error correction, early-universe black holes, protein dynamic functions and aging heterogeneity. These questions are designed to guide high-risk, high-value basic research and support sci-tech strategic planning.

At the main forum, experts discussed how AI is transforming scientific research paradigms and bridging the gap between basic research and industrial translation.

Benoit Dubuis, president of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, stressed that openness and integration are vital to innovation. No single country can tackle today's complex sci-tech challenges on its own. China has unique strengths for joint innovation in scale and speed. He said that exchanges are only a starting point, and tangible, trust-based cooperation is required to deliver real innovation outcomes.  

"The Pujiang Innovation Forum offers a platform to learn from each other. I hope that one day, Switzerland will be the Country of Honor of the forum," Dubuis said.

At the opening ceremony, following a congratulatory message by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, China's Minister of Science and Technology Yin Hejun, South Africa's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Blade Nzimande, officials from Shanghai and Hunan, which was the Province of Honor, as well as representatives of international organizations, shared their thoughts.

Launched in 2008, the annual Pujiang Innovation Forum is co-hosted by China's Ministry of Science and Technology and the Shanghai Municipal Government, serving as a weather vane for global innovation and a booster of collaboration.

SOURCE Science and Technology Daily