From January 16 to 18, 2026, the 2026 International Conference on Energy and Intelligent Materials Science and Technology Innovation, hosted by Mingyue Lake Laboratory, was successfully held in Chongqing. The conference was guided by the Chongqing Association for Science and Technology and the Chongqing Municipal Science and Technology Bureau. It was jointly organized by Mingyue Lake Laboratory together with ten institutions including Chongqing University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and co-organized by nine institutions including the Chongqing Academy of Science and Technology, the Shaoxing Institute of New Energy and Molecular Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Lanzhou University of Technology. Academician Fusheng Pan, Director of Mingyue Lake Laboratory; Professor Zifeng Ma of Shanghai Jiao Tong University; and Professor Jingfeng Wang, Party Secretary of the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Chongqing University and Executive Deputy Director of Mingyue Lake Laboratory, served as conference chairs. Professor Xiaoyuan Zhou, Deputy Director of Mingyue Lake Laboratory, served as Executive Chair of the conference. With the theme “Innovation Drives the Future, Materials Reshape the World,” the conference brought together more than 500 representatives from research institutes, universities, high-tech enterprises, and local governments from China and abroad to discuss cutting-edge developments in the field and promote the industrialization of new materials technologies.
Professor Jingfeng Wang, Party Secretary, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Executive Deputy Director, Mingyue Lake Laboratory
The opening ceremony of the conference was chaired by Professor Jingfeng Wang. Zhipeng Xu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Chongqing Municipal Science and Technology Bureau; Chenglong Liu, Vice Chairman of the Chongqing Association for Science and Technology; and Professor Zifeng Ma of Shanghai Jiao Tong University attended the opening ceremony and delivered keynote remarks.
Zhipeng Xu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group, Chongqing Municipal Science and Technology Bureau
Zhipeng Xu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group, Chongqing Municipal Science and Technology BureauIn his speech, Deputy Secretary Zhipeng Xu stated that a new round of global scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is advancing in depth, and technological innovation has become a key factor reshaping the global competitive landscape. As the cornerstone and pioneer of modern industry, materials science is integrating with fields such as energy, information technology, and artificial intelligence at an unprecedented breadth and depth, showing distinct trends toward intelligence, integration, and green development. Whoever leads breakthroughs in materials science will gain the initiative in future industrial development. As the municipal authority for science and technology innovation across the municipality, the Chongqing Municipal Science and Technology Bureau will continue to foster a first-class innovation ecosystem, fully support the development of major innovation platforms such as Mingyue Lake Laboratory, and actively promote deep integration among industry, academia, research, and application. It will also strive to provide scientists and entrepreneurs with better conditions and a more favorable environment in Chongqing for research and development, technology transfer, and industrial deployment through policy support, project guidance, and service guarantees.
Liu Chenglong, Vice Chairman, Chongqing Association for Science and Technology
Vice Chairman Chenglong Liu noted that energy is the lifeblood of industry, while materials are the cornerstone of science and technology. As the dual engines of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, they are accelerating humanity’s transition toward a green and intelligent future. With the theme “Innovation Drives the Future, Materials Reshape the World,” this conference focuses on frontier areas such as energy storage materials and intelligent materials, building a high-level platform for academic exchange and industrial collaboration. This initiative not only responds to China’s national “dual-carbon” goals but also represents a vivid practice in promoting coordinated innovation in the energy and materials sectors. As a bridge linking the Party and the government with scientific and technological professionals, the Chongqing Association for Science and Technology has consistently taken the mission of “serving innovation-driven development, serving the improvement of public scientific literacy, serving scientific and technological professionals, and serving Party and government decision-making.” The conference has brought together leading scientists and promising young researchers from China, South Korea, Singapore, Italy, and other countries and regions, making it not only a feast of intellectual exchange but also the starting point for mutually beneficial cooperation.
Zifeng Ma, Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Professor Zifeng Ma pointed out that the global transition toward green and low-carbon development has entered a critical stage of tackling key challenges and achieving breakthroughs. The accelerated rise of new quality productive forces is reshaping the industrial competitive landscape. The deep intertwining of the energy revolution and materials innovation is not only an inevitable choice in addressing climate change but also a core track for seizing the commanding heights of future science and technology. As a key national center for advanced manufacturing and a science and technology innovation hub in western China, Chongqing is actively writing a new chapter of the era characterized by “materials as the foundation, intelligence as empowerment, and energy revitalization.”
The conference report session featured a distinguished lineup of speakers. Leading experts from China and abroad—including Tongyi Zhang, Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, and Professor at Shanghai University; Academician Kwang Seon Shin of Seoul National University; Professor Xiaodong Han of Southern University of Science and Technology and Beijing University of Technology; Chief Professor Wenyu Zhao of the materials discipline at Wuhan University of Technology; and Academician John Wang of the National University of Singapore—delivered outstanding keynote presentations. Their talks focused on the latest developments and future trends in the fields of energy and intelligent materials. Through multidimensional perspectives and in-depth analysis, they explored key directions for technological breakthroughs, providing participants with a high-level academic exchange experience.
Tongyi Zhang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, and Professor at Shanghai University
Academician Kwang Seon Shin, Professor at Seoul National University, South Korea
Xiaodong Han, Professor at Southern University of Science and Technology and Beijing University of Technology
Wenyu Zhao, Chief Professor of Materials Science at Wuhan University of Technology
Academician John Wang, National University of Singapore
Focusing on frontier technologies in the fields of energy storage materials and intelligent materials, the conference featured five thematic forums: the Forum on Advanced Energy Storage Materials and Equipment, the International High-Level Forum on High-Performance Lightweight Energy-Saving Materials, the Intelligent New Materials Forum, the Frontier Interdisciplinary Materials Forum, and the Materials Big Data and Intelligent Design Forum. More than 280 high-level academic presentations covered the entire chain from fundamental research and technological breakthroughs to industrial applications. These activities effectively established a comprehensive, multi-level exchange platform, strongly promoting the sharing of research and innovation achievements while stimulating academic debate and collaborative potential.
During the conference, participating experts and entrepreneurs also visited Mingyue Lake Laboratory for a tour and research exchange. At the Mingyue Lake Laboratory Exhibition and Experience Center, they gained detailed insights into the laboratory’s research layout in the field of new materials, its innovation achievements, and the progress of industrialization. The experts spoke highly of the laboratory’s exploratory efforts and phased achievements in related fields. The visit enabled participants to directly experience the laboratory’s research strength and development potential, laying a foundation for future exchanges and potential cooperation.
The successful hosting of this conference represents an important practice by Mingyue Lake Laboratory in actively serving national strategies and gathering global innovation resources. It has effectively established an international high-level platform for academic exchange, achievements display, and industrial collaboration in the fields of energy and intelligent materials. The conference not only facilitated the convergence of frontier research outcomes and interdisciplinary collaborative innovation, laying a solid foundation for the further development of energy and materials technologies, but also injected new momentum into the high-quality development and integrated industrial innovation of China’s energy and intelligent materials sectors through intellectual exchange and the sharing of achievements. At the same time, it has added new impetus to Chongqing’s efforts to build a western science and technology innovation center and develop a highland for the advanced materials industry.
International Mg Society