World Young Scientist Summit highlights emerging talent in embodied intelligence

The 2026 World Young Scientist Summit was held in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, on Saturday and Sunday, to explore how youth-led innovation and international cooperation can address global challenges.

Under the theme "Gathering Talents Worldwide to Create a Better Future", it brought together nearly 800 young scientists, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from more than 60 countries and regions.

At the opening ceremony on Saturday, Gao Chunbo, vice-chairman and secretary-general of the World Young Scientist Federation, released a report on the distribution and mobility of young scientists in embodied intelligence, examining where researchers work, how they move across borders and regions, and their professional backgrounds.

The report covered 1,836 researchers and found that their average age was 34, and nearly 70 percent had studied or worked in different countries and regions. Academic institutions accounted for more than 60 percent of their affiliations, followed by enterprises, while about 60 percent had industry experience. The 10 institutions with the largest numbers of researchers were mainly based in China and the United States.

Tracking young scientists' distribution and mobility was a key research initiative of the event. Following a similar study on young AI scientists released last year, this year's report focused on embodied intelligence, a field that connects the virtual digital world with the physical world and could significantly reshape production and daily life.