On the morning of November 21, 2024, the 2024 Zhongguancun Forum series of activities - Science and Technology Innovation Center and Research City Forum was held at Tsinghua University, which was co-sponsored by Tsinghua University in cooperation with Springer Nature, and hosted by Tsinghua University's Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance. The forum was co-organized by Tsinghua University and Springer Nature, and hosted by the Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance of Tsinghua University. At the forum, the Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance of Tsinghua University released the Global Innovation Hubs Index 2024 (GIHI2024), and Springer Nature released the Narure supplement-Nature Index of Science Cities 2024 (NISC2024). Yang Bin, Vice President of Tsinghua University, and Arnout Jacobs, President of Springer Nature Greater China, attended the forum and delivered speeches.

  Yang Bin, Vice President of Tsinghua University, pointed out in his speech that scientific and technological innovation is the road to development, but innovation activities never happen in a vacuum. A benignly functioning innovation ecosystem needs to gather key elements such as innovation system, talents, universities, scientific infrastructure, entrepreneurial support as well as scientific and technological financial services. Against the backdrop of the accelerated restructuring of the global innovation landscape, openness and cooperation are driving the global flow of knowledge, resources and technology. In this regard, we need to not only focus on building our own innovation ecosystem to attract global quality innovation resources, but also integrate more actively into the global innovation network to seek win-win development.

  Arnout Jacobs, President of Springer Nature Greater China, said, the Global Innovation Hubs Index 2024 (GIHI2024)and the Narure supplement-Nature Index of Science Cities 2024 (NISC2024) provide us with profound insights into urban innovation from different perspectives, and comprehensively reveal the performance and trends of major cities in the world in terms of scientific research strength, scientific and technological innovation capacity, and international cooperation networks. These indices not only provide an important reference for studying the global S&T innovation pattern, but also provide data support and decision-making basis for promoting innovation cooperation and development among cities.

  Yang Bin, Vice President of Tsinghua University, released and interpreted the index assessment results of the International Science and Technology Innovation Hubs Index 2024 on behalf of the GIHI group. The data showed that Beijing reigned as the world's third, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area was sixth, and Shanghai surpassed Paris and Tokyo to rise to the world's seventh. The top 10 science and innovation cities (metropolitan areas) in the overall ranking are San Francisco-San Jose, New York, Beijing, Boston, London, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Shanghai, Paris, Tokyo and Baltimore-Washington, in that order. International science, technology and innovation centers have strongly supported the global economic recovery process, Asian cities have made remarkable progress in innovation ecology, and the headline cities show distinctive development models in which the ability to curate original innovation plays a key role.

  The Nature Index of Science Cities 2024 was officially launched by Ju Rong, Head of Data and Analytics Solutions China, Springer Nature, who explained the assessment structure,v evaluation indicators, and data evaluation results for 2024. China's research output continues to grow strongly in the journals tracked by the Nature Index, with Beijing once again topping the list of “Research Cities” and extending its dominance, with its share of contribution (Share) nearly double that of the second-place city. This year, the trend is further reinforced by the fact that Shanghai has replaced New York in second place, with New York dropping to third. Looking at this year's Research Cities, perhaps one of the more interesting phenomena is the rise of China's provincial capitals. From Chengdu in the west to Hefei in the east, some provincial capitals, though not well known in the West, are competing with some of the oldest research centers in Europe and the US.

   In the keynote session, John Pickrell, Executive Editor, Asia Pacific and China, Springer Nature Research Customized Services, gave a speech entitled “Data reports with impact: Communicating with a wider audience”. Communicating with a wider audience”. He pointed out that in the era of big models, the impact of data reports in all areas of society is becoming more and more significant. How to transform huge data into simple, clear and meaningful content that can be quickly understood by a wider audience has become an important challenge for data communication. As technology continues to evolve, there is a need to efficiently interact with a wider audience through data reporting in order to improve the overall data literacy and decision-making efficiency of society.

  Daren Howell, Vice President of Springer-Nature Research Intelligence, delivered an online keynote address entitled “AI Cities - a look at AI hubs”. He said that with the continuous advancement of AI technology and the expansion of application fields, AI innovation cities will continue to attract the world's top talents and resources, and accelerate the technological breakthroughs and industrialization process.

  Mr. Wu Xun, Professor of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Public Policy at the Social Hub of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), delivered a keynote speech titled “Science and Innovation Policy Pathway Options from the Perspective of Innovation Ecosystem”. He pointed out that the cultivation of science and innovation ecosystem is crucial to the promotion of science and technology innovation, and the government can choose both factor increment-oriented policy tools and ecological optimization-oriented policy paths, and flexibly use a diversified policy toolkit, including the provision of funds, infrastructure construction, the construction and use of science and innovation platforms, cross-regional cooperation, the establishment of industry-university-research consortiums, the guidance of venture capital, and the fostering of an innovation culture. Through analyzing the regional innovation policy texts, it was found that the current policy tools were dominated by factor increment. Prof. Wu believed that the policy orientation should balance the two orientations of factor increment and ecological optimization, and differentiated policies should be adopted according to local conditions. In addition, Professor Wu pointed out that the International Science and Technology Innovation Center Index can help to improve the policy evaluation system, optimize the policy path and innovate the research method in the regional innovation policy research.

  Chen Ling, Professor of Tsinghua University School of Public Policy and Management, Director of Tsinghua University Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance, and Chief Scientist of GIHI, delivered a keynote speech on the topic of “Global Science Center Shift and Scientific Research Paradigm Change”. She pointed out that global science centers are experiencing a shift from Europe and North America to Asia, especially Chinese cities, which are leading the world in terms of the scale of scientific influence, but need to further improve in terms of intensity. Although the influence of American cities has declined, they still lead in the quality of scientific and technological innovation. the application of AI technology is driving a paradigm shift in scientific research, with data, arithmetic, and algorithms becoming the core elements of innovation, and the application of AI technology is growing rapidly in disciplines such as chemistry, materials science, environmental science, and biology. In the face of the paradigm change in scientific research, it is necessary to cultivate innovative talents with international cooperation ability, interdisciplinary communication ability, critical thinking, and to provide an open scientific infrastructure.

  The Roundtable Dialogue on “Research and Evaluation of Innovation Index” was moderated by Chen Ling, Professor of School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, and Director of Tsinghua University Research Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance. Sharif, Sun Xiaopeng, Data Scientist and GIHI Project Director of the Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance at Tsinghua University, and other experts attended the meeting and discussed topics such as the experience of science and technology innovation development in representative cities and their corresponding growth engines, the strategic positioning and differentiated advantages of the construction of China's three major international science, technology and innovation centers, and the role of the government in promoting science, technology and innovation and the boundaries of policy interventions.

  For the fifth consecutive year, the Global Innovation Hub Index (GIHI) report has been released globally. GIHI2024 measures the innovation capacity of 120 cities (metropolitan areas) around the world through 30 indicators in three dimensions, namely science centers, innovation hubs, and innovation ecology, to reveal the dynamics of global city innovation and new trends in the innovation landscape.

  The Nature Index is compiled by Nature Research Intelligence, a division of Springer Nature. The Narure supplement-Nature Index of Science Cities 2024explores current global scientific trends by focusing on the research output of the world's major cities and metropolitan areas in 2023 in journals tracked by Nature Index. The Nature Index data shows that Beijing remains the world's premier research city and has been at the top of the list since 2016. Meanwhile, Chinese cities, especially provincial capitals, have greatly enhanced their position as globally competitive research centers.

  More than 30 industry experts were invited to attend and speak at the forum, and more than 100 audience members attended the meeting on-site. The forum was synchronized and live-streamed through multiple platforms, and a total of 30,000 audience members witnessed the release of the index report online.