2026 Suzhou Advanced Materials Industry Innovation Conference held successfully

A couple of days ago, the 2026 Suzhou Advanced Materials Industry Innovation Conference, themed “AI powers materials, innovation leads the future,” was held in Suzhou New District. Zhou Yuxian, secretary of the Party Committee and chairman of China National Building Material Group Corporation (CNBM); Fan Bo, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and secretary of the CPC Suzhou Municipal Committee; and Deng Changqing, member of the CPC Standing Committee and chief accountant of CNBM, attended the conference.

To promote the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation, Suzhou has identified new materials as a key sector for developing new quality productive forces based on local conditions. In recent years, leveraging forward-looking strategic planning and a robust industrial ecosystem, Suzhou has partnered with CNBM to advance the Suzhou Advanced Materials Valley project, jointly building a new hub for materials industry development. At the conference, construction of the AI Advanced Materials Research Institute was officially launched. With Suzhou Advanced Materials Valley as its core platform, the institute will focus on AI-powered materials R&D and industrialization, establishing a comprehensive platform that integrates technological breakthroughs, commercialization of research outcomes, talent development, and industrial services. It aims to become a nationally leading innovation hub for AI-enabled advanced materials.

The CNBM Sci-tech Innovation Fund has a total scale of 5 billion yuan. Its first-phase fund, valued at 1 billion yuan, was signed at the conference and will be invested in key sectors including new materials, new energy, semiconductors, and high-end equipment manufacturing, with the goal of cultivating a group of internationally competitive hard-tech enterprises.

At the conference, the Suzhou Advanced Materials Comprehensive Innovation Center and the Central South University National Technology Transfer (Suzhou) Center were inaugurated. The Nanjing University-CNBM Advanced Inorganic Non-metallic Materials Industry-University-Institute Innovation Complex was also established, focusing on strengthening industry-university-institute collaboration, tackling key and core technologies, and accelerating the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements in Suzhou.

In addition, eight new materials industry projects were signed, and a series of industrial scientific and technological innovations were unveiled. The groundbreaking ceremony for the China Kaolin High-end Functional Materials Green Intelligent Manufacturing Project, the certification ceremony for open bidding to select leading candidates for national biomedical materials innovation tasks, and the award ceremony for innovative achievements were also successfully held.