A robot interacts with visitors at the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference in the Zhongguancun International Innovation Center on March 28, 2025. Photo: VCG

Technology incubation institutions and global investors are exploring cooperation opportunities in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) at the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC) Annual Conference, a key Chinese forum showcasing sci-tech progress.

During the "Invest in Beijing" event at the ZGC Forum on Friday, the city announced a total of 215 investment cooperation projects, with an overall investment amount of 95.45 billion yuan ($13.12 billion). 

The value of technology transactions in Beijing reached 915.33 billion yuan in 2024, according to data released by the 2025 ZGC Forum. 

At the World Leading Science and Technology Park Development Forum on Friday, Xin Guobin, vice minister of industry and information technology, noted that the multi-faceted efforts to develop Zhongguancun into a leading sci-tech zone will continue to focus on creating an international innovation ecosystem, building a globally leading innovation service network, establishing an international platform for technological and industrial cooperation, and fostering a first-class business environment.

A signing ceremony for a partnership program between Zhongguancun Specialized Industrial Parks and Foreign Science and Technology Parks was held on Friday at the ZGC Forum, involving investment promotion institutions and industrial parks from Indonesia, Singapore, Brazil, Germany, Russia, and the UK.

Victor Queiroz, general manager of the Asia-Pacific Office for the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), attended the signing ceremony as one of the foreign delegates. He noted that Brazil places great importance on the development of AI, and China is at the forefront of the world in this field. 

"We have facilitated cooperation between Chinese and Brazilian enterprises and hope to take this opportunity to explore further two-way cooperation opportunities," Queiroz told the Global Times on the sidelines of the ZGC Forum on Friday, adding that ApexBrasil looks forward to bringing more Brazilian companies to come to China to gain a deeper understanding of China's new technologies. 

During a roundtable discussion on the topic of "Development Trends and Pathways of Science and Technology Parks from a Global Perspective," Niklas Carls Hinrichs, Co-founder of German startup incubator LAUNCH Rhein-Main, emphasized the mutual benefits of expanding cooperation between Chinese and German startups through platforms like the ZGC Forum. 

"We believe that we will enable a mutual expansion program for startups," said Hinrichs, who also signed a partnership program with the Zhongguancun International Incubator at the event.

Hinrichs said that in his discussions with German startups they have talked about the valuable connections with potential customers attending the ZGC Forum. Through expanding this cooperation partnership, Chinese startups can have a fast and easy way to enter European markets and German startups can benefit from the Chinese innovation landscape.

"China emphasizes the promotion of technology, and now we [China and Europe] are at the same level. If we are the same level, then we can achieve more mutual benefit," Johann L?hn, former president and honorary chairman of the Steinbeis Foundation, one of the largest technology transfer institutions in Europe, told the Global Times during the forum. "This means there will always be something new that we can do. This is mutual benefit," he said. 

Last year, Steinbeis facilitated the imports of solid-state hydrogen storage technology in China, and exports of Chinese hydrogen technology to Germany in order to build a demonstration hydrogen refueling station, Helen Ma, CEO of Steinbeis Sustainable Technology and Management Beijing Co, told the Global Times.

Baguma James Natweta, a representative from the African Agribusiness Incubators Network of Uganda, attended the ZGC Forum Annual Conference for the first time, along with a delegation comprising representatives from multiple African countries. 

"We are looking to advance digitalizing of all agricultural systems to maximize productivity, increase the quality of seeds and products, and shorten the time needed for cultivation," Natweta told the Global Times. 

Natweta noted that his delegation had a chance to visit multiple agriculture science parks during this visit to China. They saw technologies that improve seed quality and prevent disease, an area of great interest in Africa, given that about 70 percent of Africa's economy is based on agriculture.

Natweta said he had been impressed by the cutting-edge technologies in agriculture, and said he would like to participate in the conference next year to seek more opportunities for China-Africa agricultural cooperation.