The deep integration of information revolution and material revolution constitutes the core source of top-tier innovation for contemporary industrial revolution, and the AI+Advanced Materials initiative charts the pivotal developmental trajectory of global future industries. Held from April 9 to 12, 2026 in Nansha District, Guangzhou, the First China AI+Advanced Materials Conference gathered over 500 Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, more than 10 overseas academicians, alongside over 4,000 distinguished scholars, entrepreneurs and investors engaged in AI and advanced materials sectors. Brimming with inspiring brainstorming, innovative passion, intensive academic exchanges, industrial confidence and promising development prospects, the conference marks a milestone event for China’s advanced materials industry. Hosted under the leadership of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), the conference represents a key initiative rolled out by the Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS) to implement the guiding principles from the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, thoroughly apply General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on sci-tech innovation, and fully execute the State Council’s Opinions on Further Advancing the AI Plus Initiative, so as to comprehensively advance the national strategic deployment of AI+Advanced Materials. The conference features three thematic sessions hosting keynote speeches delivered by 14 academicians and sets up 19 sub-forums targeting priority national strategic demands. These sub-forums cover a full spectrum of core fields: AI-enabled Materials Genome Engineering, material data, modeling & intelligent systems, intelligent material design, intelligent material processing, bio-manufacturing of materials, as well as frontier materials empowered by AI, energy materials, smart materials, biomimetic materials, quantum materials, molecular materials, flexible materials, composite materials and polymer materials. By pooling nationwide high-end intellectual resources, the event explores feasible pathways for cross-technology integration, fosters an innovative ecosystem for coordinated growth, and accelerates transformative and leapfrog development to help China’s advanced materials industry achieve latecomer advantage via technological reshuffling.

Academician Li Yuanyuan, President of Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS), presided over the opening ceremony. He introduced that the conference is sponsored by C-MRS, co-organized by C-MRS Advanced Materials Industry Association, C-MRS Academy of Advanced Materials Development Strategy and Nansha Future Industrial Technology Innovation Institute of Guangzhou, with institutional support from Administrative Committee of Guangzhou Nansha Economic & Technological Development Zone, Guangdong University of Technology, South China University of Technology, Meizhou Municipal Government and Yangjiang Municipal Government. After formally introducing more than 50 CAS/CAE academicians and over 10 overseas academicians present at the opening, Academician Li commented that this inaugural conference stands as China’s most authoritative academic event in the AI+Advanced Materials arena, featuring the broadest disciplinary coverage and most cutting-edge industrial landing achievements across the sector.

Academician Wei Bingbo, President of C-MRS, delivered an opening address. He noted that global scientific and technological advancement is undergoing multi-dimensional and in-depth restructuring: artificial intelligence has evolved into a universal enabling technology, data-driven innovation paradigm has risen rapidly, technology-scenario iteration and verification have accelerated, and digital technologies deliver wider accessibility and inclusiveness, turning sci-tech competition into a core battlefield for national strategic rivalry. Amid such historic shifts, the AI+Advanced Materials strategy capitalizes on the convergence of information and material revolutions, unlocking unprecedented historic opportunities for leapfrog progress of advanced materials and defining core strategic directions for emerging future industries. He urged domestic material scientists and researchers to shoulder national development missions, seize historic opportunities and contribute wisdom and expertise toward fulfilling China’s grand goal of building a world-leading country in science and technology by 2035.

Bai Jiangang,   Secretary of the Party Commitee of Guangdong University of Technology, and Liu Wei, Member of Standing Committee of CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee and Party Secretary of CPC Nansha District Committee, delivered respective speeches. They remarked that C-MRS boasts outstanding organizational capacity and influential standing within global materials academia, laying solid groundwork for this high-caliber flagship conference. The district takes immense pride and gratitude for C-MRS’s decision to host this strategically vital inaugural conference in Nansha, which will substantially fuel local industrial development of AI+Advanced Materials and propel Nansha onto a new fast track integrating AI, advanced materials and national strategic platforms in Nansha. Welcoming top-tier experts, innovative projects and high-end talents across the whole industrial chain, Nansha will capitalize on this landmark conference to expedite industrial commercialization of AI+Advanced Materials and the construction of local innovation platforms.

Multiple signing and inauguration ceremonies were held during the opening session, including the official launch of C-MRS Greater Bay Area Advanced Materials Development Center (Nansha Future Industrial Technology Innovation Institute of Guangzhou); strategic cooperation signing between Nansha Future Industrial Technology Innovation Institute and BYD Lithium Battery Co., Ltd.; framework agreements inked between C-MRS Greater Bay Area Advanced Materials Development Center and 15 industrial partners; and the strategic cooperation deal between Meizhou Municipal Government and Guangdong University of Technology.

The keynote speech session was chaired by Professor Li Guangxian, Supervisor-General of C-MRS; C-MRS Vice Presidents Academicians Zhang Pingxiang, Wang Yuzhong and Professor Zhou Kechao; C-MRS Standing Director Academician Li Hejun; Academician Li Hongxia from China Baowu Steel Group; and Professor Henry H. Radamson, Fellow of European Academy of Sciences. All 14 keynote lectures across three sessions were presented by world-class leading scientists as listed below:

1. AI Empowers R&D and Manufacturing of Advanced Materials by Academician Xie Jianxin (China Academy of Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing)

2. Digital Cell Factories by Academician Tan Tianwei (China Academy of Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology)

3. Artificial Intelligence Reshapes Research Paradigms of Materials Science by Academician Zhang Jin (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University)

4. Digital & Intelligent Technology for Corrosion Research and Development of Corrosion-resistant Materials by Academician Han Enhou (China Academy of Engineering, Guangdong Institute of Corrosion Science and Technology Innovation)

5. Two Cornerstones of AI+Advanced Materials: AI Laboratories and AI Computational Platforms by Academician Zhang Tongyi (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, Shanghai University)

6. AI Empowers Transformation, Boundary Breakthrough and Integrated Development of Raw Material Industry: Building Industrial Brains to Foster New Quality Productive Forces by Academician Qian Feng (China Academy of Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology)

7. AI-enabled Metamaterials for Information Technology by Academician Cui Tiejun (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Southeast University)

8. Self-reliance in Quantum Technology and Prioritized Development of Scientific Instruments by Academician Yu Dapeng (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University & Director of Shenzhen International Quantum Academy)

9. Embodied Intelligence: Synergy Between Smart Materials and Artificial Intelligence by Academician Leng Jinsong (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology)

10. Short-wave Infrared Technology in the AI Era by Professor Henry H. Radamson (Fellow of European Academy of Sciences, Optoelectronic IC R&D Center, Guangdong Greater Bay Area Integrated Circuit Research Institute)

11. Progress and Challenges of AI Research on Advanced Elastomer Materials by Academician Zhang Liqun (China Academy of Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University)

12. AI-driven Fabrication of High-performance Metal Matrix Composites by Academician Zhang Di (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

13. Fracture Mechanics of Biomaterials by Academician Feng Xiqiao (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University)

14. Design of Advanced Structural and Structured Materials by Academician Guo Xu (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian University of Technology)

These fourteen cutting-edge, interdisciplinary high-level presentations drew extensive attention from all attendees, with the conference venue fully packed and hundreds of participants standing throughout the lectures, reflecting tremendous enthusiasm and high attention from domestic material researchers toward breakthroughs in AI+Advanced Materials.

As a strategic and foundational industry underpinning upper-stream core technologies of emerging industrial chains, advanced materials determine China’s capability to seize global industrial commanding heights and realize independent high-end development of high-tech industries, major national engineering projects and sophisticated manufacturing. Domestic material practitioners shall seize the historic opportunities brought by AI+Advanced Materials, leverage artificial intelligence as a core engine to drive leapfrog industrial upgrading, tackle bottleneck core material challenges plagued by overseas technological blockades, and deliver solid outcomes for China’s 2035 sci-tech powerhouse blueprint. Attending experts unanimously acknowledged heavy responsibilities and urgent missions, affirming the inaugural conference as a groundbreaking high-end platform for the whole sector; the event broadened academic horizons, sparked innovative inspirations, and participants expressed sincere gratitude to C-MRS for launching this flagship annual conference.

C-MRS will institutionalize this annual regular exchange conference, systematically pool nationwide sci-tech resources, make phased layout of industrial development elements and deliver tangible major research breakthroughs in AI+Advanced Materials. The society will keep upgrading the event into a state-level branded conference featuring high strategic positioning, top-tier academic standards and abundant innovative achievements, turning it into the industrial benchmark for China’s AI+Advanced Materials sector. The conference will provide robust material underpinnings for Chinese modernization drive and inject robust new momentum into building a powerhouse of materials science and securing high-level self-reliance in core science and technology.