On November 12, 2025, the first session of the “Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration Forum on Major Challenges” themed “Microscale Thermal Management” was held at China Hall of Science and Technology in Beijing. Organized by the Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS), the forum aimed to “break down disciplinary boundaries and promote collaborative innovation.”It brought together leading experts from materials science, fundamental research, process equipment, artificial intelligence, and engineering applications to discuss cutting-edge challenges and interdisciplinary solutions in microscale thermal management. More than 40 distinguished experts and scholars attended this event, including Ms. Liu Xiaofang, Director of the Academic Activities Division of the Service Center for Societies of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST); Professor Zhang Zengzhi, Secretary-General of C-MRS and Academician of the Asia Pacific Academy of Materials (APAM); Professor Cao Bingyang (Tsinghua University); Professor Gu Junwei (Northwestern Polytechnical University); Professor Huang Xingyi (Shanghai Jiao Tong University); Professor Li Xiaofeng (Beijing University of Chemical Technology); Professor Song Bai (Peking University); Researcher Zhang Xudong (Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, CAS); Researcher Zhang Hang (Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS); Professor Wan Chunlei (Tsinghua University); Associate Professor Wang Haidong (Tsinghua University); Associate Professor Jv Shenghong (Tsinghua University); Researcher Yang Lin (Peking University); Researcher Shao Yuanlong (Peking University); Professor Dong Ruoyu (Beihang University); Professor Chu Fuqiang (University of Science and Technology Beijing); Professor Sun Jingyao (Beijing University of Chemical Technology); Assistant Researcher Li Zhenxing (Beijing Institute of Technology); Researcher Yang Guang (Huairou National Laboratory,New Power System Research Center); Hao Jingyang, Technical Director of Lenovo and student representatives from the Jinyiqiujing Student Club of the University of Science and Technology Beijing.

Microscale thermal management is a common critical technology in major strategic fields such as electronic devices, new energy and aerospace. It is a global scientific and technological challenge. In this area, China’s frontier research has entered a “strategic race” with developed countries, particularly the United States. Solving this challenge will enable a qualitative leap in the development of key strategic industries and play a decisive role in the formation of high-growth industrial clusters.

The Chinese Materials Research Society deeply understands and thoroughly implements the guiding principles of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Under the leadership of CAST, C-MRS has made serving the nation’s major technological challenges the highest priority of its academic exchange and collaboration efforts. By identifying bottlenecks and pain points in industrial development, recognizing the cross-disciplinary nature of these challenges, and organizing top scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs from multiple industries for collaborative discussion, the Society aims to foster interdisciplinary breakthroughs and spark new innovative ideas, thereby driving fundamental solutions to these obstacles. Professor Zhang Zengzhi, Secretary-General of C-MRS and Academician of the Asia Pacific Academy of Materials, noted that major challenges represent significant common issues constraining industrial development and require breaking “disciplinary boundaries” as well as advancing cross field, cross disciplinary collaboration to their solutions. C-MRS has planned 38 such major challenge collaboration forums. This initiative is a vivid practice of the guiding principles of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and will have far-reaching significance for promoting independent, high quality industrial development and creating high-level new quality productive forces.

The event adopted the mode of “special presentations in the morning” and “closed-door discussions in the afternoon.” The morning academic presentations were live-streamed to the public. The closed-door session fostered in-depth exchanges among experts. This mode enables multidisciplinary and cross-field collaboration to explore pathways and implementation plans for the major challenge of microscale thermal management, and to condense findings into special report.

Professor Cao Bingyang presented a report titled “Science and Technology of Thermal Management for Integrated Circuits”

Professor Gu Junwei reported on “Thermally Conductive Polymers and Their Composites”

Professor Huang Xingyi presented “On-Demand Preparation and Application of Two-Dimensional Boron Nitride Nanosheets”

Professor Li Xiaofeng reported on “Controllable Construction of Thermal Conductive Networks and High-Performance Thermally Conductive Composites”

Professor Song Bai presented “How Will Future Chips Be Cooled?”

Researcher Zhang Xudong reported on “Room-Temperature Liquid Metal Thermal Management Materials and Technologies.”

Most Participating experts expressed that they greatly benefited from the forum.They noted that the Microscale Thermal Management Major Challenge Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration Forum combined depth and breadth. Only through multidisciplinary integration can the fundamental scientific issues in microscale heat transfer be solved, and only through industry-university-research collaboration can the major technical challenges in thermal management be addressed. Experts expressed the hope that, under the leadership of C-MRS and aligned with the demands of major national strategy, the Society’s Thermal Management Materials Branch will develop distinctive characteristics and continue to contribute to the industry’s ongoing progress.The forum saw the participation of a number of young and mid-aged scientists with active, forward-looking and cutting-edge thinking. They engaged enthusiastically and deeply in cross-field exchanges, generating significant academic ideas and engineering pathways for solving the microscale thermal management challenge, and exploring mechanisms for division of labor and collaboration in this field.They plan to jointly apply to C-MRS to establish a sub-society on microscale thermal management, which would organize multiple cross-field events each year to ensure China’s world-leading position in this field and transform high-end industries into global innovation hubs.

Under the leadership of CAST, C-MRS will continue to hold a series of high-end forums at China Hall of Science and Technology, including the “Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration Forum on Major Challenges,” the “Forum on Key Common Technologies for Critical Materials,” the “Special Forum on Disruptive Technologies,” and the “Non-Consensus Salon on Advanced Materials.” These efforts are designed to serve the nation’s strategic science and technology capacity and promote the high-level, high-quality development of new quality productive forces.