Pujiang Innovation Forum offers $3.5b innovation matching projects

SHANGHAI -- A global technology matching platform associated to the 2023 Pujiang Innovation Forum in Shanghai has offered 25 billion yuan ($3.5 billion) worth of innovation matching projects.

Over 2,000 enterprises registered 3,381 innovation projects open to technological cooperation with scientific teams or research institutes, said the organizers of the forum, which officially opened in Shanghai on Sunday. These enterprises pledged to invest a combined 25 billion yuan into these projects.

"Cutting-edge technologies are changing clinical medicine, and we have published over 10 innovation demands this time focusing on fields such as brain-computer interface and artificial intelligence," said Zhang Lihong, a senior executive with MicroPort, a medical device manufacturer based in Shanghai.

"We are looking forward to exchanging ideas with top global technological staff and jointly developing some exclusive and creative new products to solve the needs of patients," Zhang said.

Chen Hongkai, an official with the Shanghai science and technology commission, said the Pujiang Innovation Forum has for the first time launched a global venture capital conference to focus on the three sectors of biomedicine, AI, and advanced manufacturing.

The conference attracted more than 1,000 entrepreneurial projects, over 500 incubation organizations, and more than 200 investment institutions worldwide.

Themed "Open Innovation Ecosystem: Innovation for Global Connectivity," the 2023 Pujiang Innovation Forum is co-sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Shanghai municipal government.