Sanya hosts global scientists at marine forum

Experts from around the world gather to discuss issues around 'smart ocean and future agriculture'

Scientists and experts from around the world have gathered at Sanya, South China's Hainan province to discuss the latest in marine science and technology and their influence on walks of life, during the ongoing World Laureates Sanya Forum.

With a theme of "smart ocean and future agriculture", the two-day event, which started on Thursday, has attracted some 750 participants, including 21 leading foreign scientists.

Among the distinguished guests are 12 Nobel laureates and winners of the Turing Award, the Fields Medal, the Lasker Award and the Wolf Prize, as well as 28 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, organizers said.

Li Jun, deputy secretary of the Hainan provincial committee of the Communist Party of China, said as a tropical island province in South China, Hainan benefits from a unique environment which has contributed to its rapid socio-economic growth.

"We are striving to establish a social and ecological environment to benefit scientific research and innovation," Li said.

Hainan has rolled out an action plan to introduce 1 million professionals that will utilize more open and effective mechanisms, Li said.

"We will continue to improve policies to promote services and make more efforts to provide medical care, housing and children's education for high-level personnel in Hainan," Li said.

The World Laureates Sanya Forum is being held in the coastal city in Hainan province on Thursday and Friday. [Photo by Yuan Yongdong For China Daily] 

The forum, jointly organized by the Hainan provincial talent development bureau and the Sanya city government, aims to promote global exchanges and cooperation in sectors including ecological science, marine technology and modern agriculture.

Hainan will set up platforms to serve research and exchanges among top scientists around the world, Li said. The province will promote the construction of a host of projects, including the southern facility of a national deep-sea technology base and a national seed breeding center.

Hainan is building the International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone designed to highlight international medical tourism services, a low carbon ecological community and a gathering place for international organizations.

"We will also build key national laboratories and attract colleges and institutes at home and abroad to set up branches in Hainan, so as to launch high-level collaborative projects," Li said.

Randy Schekman, 2013 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine and vice-president of the World Laureates Association, said Chinese sciences have seen great development over the past years.

"The important condition is not only the investment that the government is making, but the opportunities for independence - young scholars need opportunities to express their own imagination and do science as they wish to," he said.

David Gross, 2004 Nobel laureate in physics, said science flourishes with transparency, mobility and collaboration. "We should let the WLA help to promote the free movement of people and ideas," he said.

During the forum, Hainan University appointed four Nobel Prize winners as the university's international consultants. The China-Russia innovation base of high-tech company Tus-Holdings signed an agreement with the Russian Academy of Sciences to build a collaborative base for innovation and startups in Sanya.

In addition, the World Laureates Association and the Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City signed an agreement to build a workstation of the WLA in the coastal city, aiming to offer a platform for top scientists' communications in scientific research and support the development of the deep-sea technology industry.

"We see this as a starting point to promote the construction of the workstation with the intention of becoming a virtual or physical home for the world laureates and an international destination for young scientists," Schekman said.

During the forum, scientists have delivered keynote speeches, and topics such as marine life and health industry, smart ocean, modern agriculture and ecology industry, marine ecology and science were discussed.