The World Young Scientist Summit 2019 opened on Oct. 26 in the city of Wenzhou 
in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Sponsored by the China Association for Science and Technology and the Zhejiang 
Provincial People's Government and hosted by the Zhejiang Association for 
Science and Technology and the Wenzhou Municipal People's Government, the 
summit seeks to gather the world's talents for a better future.

The event featured domestic and overseas young scientists and top scientists 
including Nobel laureates George Fitzgerald Smoot and Duncan Haldane, Turing 
Award winner Martin Edward Hellman, as well as Chinese science and engineering 
academicians Qi Faren and Chen Junshi. They explored the trends of future 
science and technology development, their influence on entrepreneurship, 
education, health, smart manufacturing and resources, as well as the 
countermeasures. Some 800 famous scientists, entrepreneurs, and young 
technicians from 102 countries, regions, and international organizations 
attended the opening ceremony. 

An entrepreneurship fund for world young scientists and an entrepreneurship 
park were launched during the event, with keynote addresses delivered by Shi 
Yigong, President of Westlake University, George Fitzgerald Smoot, Nobel Prize 
winner for physics, and Jia Yangqing, Vice President of Alibaba Group. 

Zhejiang has stepped up investment in science and technology research and 
development in recent years, with focuses on "Internet Plus" initiatives and 
life and health sciences.

The government has taken a series of targeted and effective policies to nurture 
a number of high-level research universities including Zhejiang University and 
Westlake University as well as research institutes such as Zhejiang Lab, Ningbo 
Institute of Materials Technology & Engineering with the Chinese Academy of 
Sciences, Zhejiang Institute of Oncology and Basic Medicine with the Chinese 
Academy of Sciences. In addition, high-level regional innovation platforms like 
the national independent innovation demonstration zones, the science and 
technology innovation corridors and the high-tech zones have been set up. Many 
leading enterprise research institutions such as the Alibaba DAMO Academy for 
Discovery, Adventure, Momentum and Outlook, and a number of towns with 
high-tech characteristics have been developed. 

At the same time, efforts have been made to implement major projects of 
scientific and technological innovation, such as basic research, upgrading of 
enterprise innovation, cultivation of innovative industrial clusters, 5G + and 
industrial internet. Zhejiang has enhanced supportive policies and promoted the 
digital transformation of government services to make the business environment 
conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship.

Source: The 2019 World Young Scientist (Wenzhou) Summit