2019-05-22
Under the theme of “Integration and Innovation — Emerging Trends and Business Forms in the Development of the Science Popularization Industry”, the 2019 Forum on the Development of the Science Popularization Industry was held in Wuhu city, Anhui province on May 22, 2019.
The 2019 Forum on the Development of the Science Popularization Industry is held in Wuhu city, Anhui province on May 22, 2019.
The forum is co-sponsored by the Department of Science Popularization of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), the Anhui Association for Science and Technology (AAST), and the People’s government of Wuhu Municipality, and organized by the Institute of Science Popularization Industry Research of the School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, and the Beijing Association for the Advancement of Science Popularization Culture. The Wuhu Association for Science and Technology and the Committee for the Science Popularization Culture Industry of the Chinese Society for Science and Technology Journalism (CSSTJ) offered support to the event.
Song Nanping, president of CSSTJ, Bai Xi, director general of the CAST Department of Science Popularization, and Wang Xun, vice-president of AAST, attended the opening ceremony.
In his speech, Song noted that the science popularization industry is a significant way to science popularization. He stressed it is an important task of all science popularization workers to encourage and support research institutes, science popularization institutes and enterprises to enhance their ability to develop science popularization products and push to turn scientific and technological innovation achievements into science popularization products.
Bai noted in his speech the China (Wuhu) Popularized Science Products Exposition has been growing in size, level and influence and has become a barometer of China’s science popularization industry. The expo is held concurrently with a symposium of leading officials of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, all provincial-level regions in the Yangtze River Delta region, this year. Bai believed this is a big boost to the expo’s influence.
According to Bai, the science popularization industry in China will see faster growth in the future thanks to a rapid improvement in public science literacy and a growing public need for science popularization. Bai believed that the emerging industry would have a promising market and a huge development potential.
Still, Bai noted, while government support and guidance is indispensable, the involvement of the market and non-governmental forces is more important for the industry because they are the mainstay of the industry and have more insights into its development trends. Bai also called for accelerated integration between the science popularization industry and other emerging industries as well as the creation of new business forms and the innovation of traditional industries.
In his speech, Wang said a high-quality, innovative society and rapid application of scientific and technological advances will be impossible without an enhancement in public science literacy.
To enhance public science literacy depends on the strong support of the science popularization industry, Wang said. He called for synergetic development of the science popularization undertaking and the science popularization industry and a greater ability to supply science products and science popularization services.
Some 140 experts and science popularization workers from local science and technology associations, universities, research institutes, and pilot science popularization products R&D teams participated in the forum.
The forum featured four keynote presentations, namely “Trends in the Development of New Business Forms of Science Popularization Films” by Wang Xiaoming, vice president of the Chinese Association of Natural Science Museums and curator of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum; “Science Popularization Tours – Innovation and Exploration of Science Popularization Education” by Zhou Jianqiang, vice president of CSSTJ and head of the Institute of Science Popularization Industry Research of the School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China; “On Integrating Science Innovation and Popularization” by Li Jianmin, former head of the Shanghai Institute for Science of Science; and “Application of the Bio-plasticization Technology and Diverse Development of the Science Popularization Industry” by Sui Hongjin, vice president of the Chinese Society for Anatomical Sciences, director of the Department of Anatomy, and founder of Mystery Life Museum.
Other topics included science popularization through high-end scientific research resources, development of Beijing’s science popularization industry, features of Guangzhou’s science popularization industry, application of intelligent speech technology, children’s science education industry, innovation of city- and county-level science and technology museums, and development of digital image science popularization products.