Chinese sci-tech association issues major sci-tech questions, challenges for 2026

BEIJING -- The China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) on Wednesday released 30 major science and technology questions and challenges for 2026 at the main forum of its 28th annual meeting in Beijing.

The list comprises 10 frontier scientific questions, 10 engineering challenges and 10 industrial technology bottlenecks, covering fields including artificial intelligence, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and deep-sea and deep-space exploration.

Among them are the Hodge conjecture, burning plasma in magnetically confined nuclear fusion, intelligent sensing in deep-sea environments, technologies for autonomous exploration and operations by large-model-driven embodied intelligent robots in space, and intelligent manufacturing of commercial satellites for mega-constellations.

This year's selection was made from 84 proposals recommended by 70 scientists and reviewed by 23 academicians and experts.

Since launching the initiative in 2018, the CAST has solicited and released a total of 279 major science and technology questions and challenges.