Beijing, 18 July — The 2025 Tech & Diplomacy Summit, convened on Thursday afternoon in Beijing under the joint stewardship of the China Association for International Science and Technology Cooperation and Sichuan University of Culture and Arts, closed with resounding success. Guided by the theme “Strengthening Sci-Tech Innovation Collaboration and Building an Open Cooperation Ecosystem,” the forum drew more than 300 delegates from national ministries, provincial science-and-technology bureaus, premier research institutes and industry leaders. Over the course of the day, participants engaged in candid, forward-looking exchanges on global life-science breakthroughs, the convergent evolution of energy and transportation systems, and other frontier topics, collectively sketching the next chapter of worldwide scientific partnership.

In a letter of congratulations, Wan Gang, vice-chairman of the 13th CPPCC National Committee and president of the China Association for Science and Technology, lauded the “Home of Science and Technology Diplomats” for its pivotal role as a people-to-people bridge and celebrated its measurable impact in accelerating international science and technology cooperation. Chen Zongxing, vice-chairman of the 11th CPPCC National Committee, marked the occasion with a personal inscription.

During the opening plenary, heads of China’s “big-five” science institutions—the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the China Association for Science and Technology—delivered keynote remarks, together outlining a shared vision for tomorrow’s innovation landscape and the collaborative pathways that will lead there.

President Gong Zhenxu: Culture & Tech Build a New Cooperation Ecosystem

In his keynote address, Gong Zhenxu, President of Sichuan University of Culture and Arts, hailed the summit as a decisive answer to the Chengdu Declaration of the second Belt and Road Science and Technology Exchange Conference, calling it “a firm stride toward an open, borderless framework for global science and technology cooperation—one founded on the conviction that science belongs to all humanity.”

Highlighting the Belt and Road Initiative as an ever-widening avenue for international synergy, President Gong reaffirmed the university’s mandate to cultivate talent equally fluent in cutting-edge technology and the arts. Drawing on decades of practice, he advanced three imperatives:

? Let culture be the bridge that deepens people-to-people exchange and carries China’s rich heritage to every corner of the globe.  

? Let education be the bedrock for nurturing interdisciplinary innovators ready to meet the demands of worldwide science and technology collaboration.  

? Let collaboration be the bond that knits together an international industry–university–research ecosystem, ensuring ideas, talent and capital flow without friction.

Four Expert Committees Launched; President Gong Zhenxu Appointed Chair

The forum marked the inauguration of four specialized committees—headlined by the Expert Committee on Science-and-Technology Culture Dissemination and the Expert Committee on Energy–Transportation Integration—solidifying a new framework for targeted, cross-disciplinary collaboration. Sichuan University of Culture and Arts President Gong Zhenxu named chair of the Science-Tech Culture Dissemination Expert Committee, underscoring the university’s leadership at the intersection of science and culture.

Roundtable Dialogue and General Assembly Run Side by Side

A round-table dialogue ran in parallel with the 7th General Assembly of the China Association for International Science and Technology Cooperation, locking in shared vision and catapulting science diplomacy and collaborative innovation into a new era.

The summit’s success positions Sichuan University of Culture and Arts at the forefront of China’s innovation-driven development and deeper integration into the global science ecosystem. As a flagship of higher education and cultural creativity in western China, the university will leverage this momentum to:

? Deepen Belt-and-Road partnerships, cultivating talent equally fluent in cutting-edge technology and the arts;  

? Forge an industry–university–research nexus anchored by the Expert Committee on Science-Tech Culture Dissemination, fast-tracking breakthroughs into creative-industry solutions;  

? Harness art’s power for cross-civilization dialogue—through joint exhibitions, co-creation ventures and more—to tell China’s science stories to the world and advance the nation’s high-standard opening-up.