2025 Zhongguancun Forum opens in Beijing to explore tech innovations

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China

2025 Zhongguancun Forum opens in Beijing to explore tech innovations

2025-03-27 13:24 Last Updated At：21:27

The 2025 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) kicked off in Beijing on Thursday, attracting participants from over 100 countries and regions across the world to explore cutting-edge technologies and innovation-driven growth.

Themed "New Quality Productive Forces and Global Technology Cooperation," this year's forum, which will run until March 31, features 128 events across five major sections, including meetings, technology trading, and frontier competitions.

Discussions will center on AI foundation models, embodied intelligence, quantum technology, biomedicine, 6G, and brain-computer interfaces.

Serving as a platform for collaboration among policymakers, businesses, researchers, and investors, the forum aims to accelerate the commercialization of major scientific and technological breakthroughs.

Established in 2007 with the permanent theme of "Innovation and Development," the forum has hosted over 1,000 parallel sessions and supporting events, attracting hundreds of thousands of participants in the past 15 editions.

WHO warns of slowing global health progresses in report

2025-05-16 13:11 Last Updated At：13:37

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning about the slowing pace of global health progresses in its World Health Statistics Report 2025, which was released on Thursday.

The report highlighted that by the end of 2024, about 1.4 billion more people were living healthier life, surpassing the target of 1 billion, thanks to initiatives such as smoking control, improved air quality, and better basic health conditions.

However, data also revealed a concerning drop in global average life expectancy, which decreased by 1.8 years between 2019 and 2021, marking the largest decline in modern history.

The report emphasized areas where progresses have been slower. Coverage of essential healthcare services and protection from health emergencies remain limited, and maternal and child mortality rates have not met expectations. Non-communicable diseases have continued to be the leading cause of death globally, with the burden of chronic conditions intensifying. Despite reductions in tobacco use and alcohol consumption, air pollution and mental health issues have remained barriers to overall progresses.