Shanghai will welcome 33 Nobel laureates, Turing Award winners, Wolf Prize recipients, and Fields Medalists next week for the 2026 World Laureates Forum.

Scheduled for Oct 30 to Nov 1 in the Lin-gang area, the forum will bring together leading scientists, academicians, emerging researchers, and industry leaders to explore how paradigm shifts will shape scientific breakthroughs over the next decade.

"This year's forum will focus on global scientific and technological frontiers, bringing together leading minds to address the major challenges facing humanity," noted Wu Xiaohua, chairman of the World Laureates Foundation.

Wu said participants would examine critical issues including future research paradigms, technology value chains, international cooperation, talent development, and technology governance.

The opening ceremony will feature the presentation of two major World Laureates Foundation prizes in computer science or mathematics and life science or medicine. Organizers will also unveil a newly established WLF prize for young scientists, marking the foundation’s first award dedicated to early-career researchers.

The three-day program will feature six specialized parallel forums covering critical frontiers: semiconductors, biomedicine, aerospace information, artificial intelligence, future energy, and quantum science.

The biomedicine forum will focus on debilitating brain conditions, with sessions on Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression, and translational medicine.

Discussions on AI will cover developments in trustworthy AI, high-performance computing, AI chips, and humanoid robotics, while addressing governance challenges and ways to foster an equitable global oversight framework.

The quantum science forum will bring Nobel laureates, academics, and tech founders together to identify key challenges, explore implementation pathways, and assess market trends as quantum technologies move from laboratory research to industrial applications.

Other sessions will explore AI-enabled semiconductor innovation, aerospace advances for public benefit, and novel approaches to energy storage and power-intensive computing centers.

Source: China Daily