Sub-forum on brain science, brain-inspired intelligence technology opens in Hengqin

A sub-forum on brain science and brain-inspired intelligence technology of the 2022 Greater Bay Area Science Forum opened on Jan 14 in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, Guangdong province.

Themed with "Innovating the Brain, Foreseeing the Future", the sub-forum was hosted by the Chinese Neuroscience Society, the Guangdong Institute of Intelligence Science and Technology and Guangdong Industry-University-Research Promotion Science and Technology Co Ltd under the guidance of the Greater Bay Area Science Forum.

Those participating in the event included government officials, as well as more than 200 professors, experts and scholars in brain science, brain-inspired technology and related research fields.

Bai Chunli, president of the Greater Bay Area Science Forum and a CAS academician, addresses the sub-forum on brain science and brain-inspired intelligence technology. [Photo/WeChat account: Greater Bay Area Science Forum]

Bai Chunli, president of the Greater Bay Area Science Forum and an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), said brain science and brain-inspired intelligence technology, as important frontier technologies and crucial fields for industrial transformation, are strategic frontiers for the international scientific and technological community.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) has gathered top research strength in brain science and brain-inspired intelligence at home and abroad, made remarkable achievements in basic research of brain science, tackled problems in key technologies of brain-inspired intelligence, contributed to the industrialization of related fields, and greatly improved its international influence, Bai added.

Zhang Xu, president of the Guangdong Institute of Intelligence Science and Technology and a CAS academician, speaks at the sub-forum on brain science and brain-inspired intelligence technology. [Photo/WeChat account: Greater Bay Area Science Forum]

Zhang Xu, president of the Guangdong Institute of Intelligence Science and Technology and a CAS academician, said the sub-forum set up a platform to connect global scientists engaged in brain science and brain-inspired intelligence, and innovative entrepreneurs.

It will further promote global sci-tech exchanges and cooperation, broaden research perspectives and international mindsets, strengthen academic discussions, transform research achievements, and create an attractive, cooperative and innovative ecosystem, Zhang added. 

Experts and scholars participate in the sub-forum on brain science and brain-inspired intelligence technology. [Photo/WeChat account: Greater Bay Area Science Forum]

Professor Shi Luping, director of the Center for Brain-Inspired Computing Research at Tsinghua University, introduced the development background and latest research progress in brain- inspired computing, talked about major challenges faced by the discipline and possible solutions, and shared studies on the promotion of artificial general intelligence utilizing the integration of dual-brain driven strategies and general brain-inspired computing.

Xu Lei, a Zhiyuan chair professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, principal scientist at the Artificial Intelligence Institute of the university, and member of Academia Europaea, explored the causal inference in artificial intelligence and statistics, explained achievements made in the field over the past century and its application in data intelligence, as well as the progress of the causal inference program in the Scientific and Technological Innovation 2030: New Generation Artificial Intelligence Major Project released by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The sub-forum also gathered top international scholars, including Yuan Junying, a molecular biologist, director of the CAS Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, and member of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor Zheng Lirong, a scholar listed in China's Thousand Talents Program and vice-president of the Guangdong Institute of Intelligence Science and Technology, and Hannu Tenhunen, a member of the Academy of Engineering Science of Finland and chair professor of Electronic Systems at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, who delivered keynote reports.

They put forward prospective opinions on the development of brain-inspired technology from multiple perspectives such as brain-inspired intelligence technology, neurosciences and life sciences, and explored the future development of intelligent technology.

The sub-forum on brain science and brain-inspired intelligence technology is the first sub-forum launched by the 2022 Greater Bay Area Science Forum held in 2023. The forum will continue to prepare for annual conferences, forge multilateral cooperation, pool international innovation resources and give full play to the advantages of high-end talents and global scientific resources.

Leveraging core regional resources and favorable policies of the GBA, the forum will build itself into a scientific think tank with global influence.