Fudan Science and Innovation Forum 2016 and the 1st Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award Ceremony were held in Shanghai on December 17, 2016. American immunologist James Allison, and Japanese immunologist Tasuku Honjo won the 1st Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award for their distinguished contributions to the field of tumor immunotherapy. World-renowned scientists, including the Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, Prof. Samuel Chao Chung Ting (MIT), the Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry，Prof. Roger D. Kornberg (Stanford University), the Winner of the Dirac Medal and Prize, Prof. Shoucheng Zhang (Stanford University), the senior expert in AI, Prof. Michael I. Jordan (UC Berkeley), together discussed the frontier and innovation trend of global science.
The Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, President of Fudan University, Xu Ningsheng, Founder of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, Xie Zhikun, and President of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, Wang Wei also attended the forum. Prof. Xu and Mr. Wang delivered speeches at the opening ceremony. Chair of Award Senior Committee, Prof. Samuel Chao Chung Ting announced the winners of the 1st Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award. Prof. Roger D. Kornberg presented the certificates of merit to the winners, and Mr. Xie Zhikun presented the trophies.
James P. Allison, Professor of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, was awarded for his fundamental discovery that blocking CTLA-4 can unleash T cells of the immune system to attack cancer cells and for the development of an antibody against CTLA-4 as the first immuno-oncology therapy. Tasuku Honjo, Professor at Kyoto University, was awarded for his fundamental discovery of PD-1 as an inducible gene in activating T-lymphocytes and his subsequent research revealing PD-1 as a negative regulator of immune responses.
The Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award was jointly founded by Fudan University and Zhongzhi Enterprise Group in 2015, to recognize the global scientists who have made fundamental and distinguished achievements in the fields of Mathematics, Physics and Biomedicine. The Award of this year is the first presented Award which is rewarded to the scientists in Biomedicine. Each laureate receives a certificate of merit, trophy, and shares a monetary award of 3 million RMB which is donated by Zhongzhi Enterprise Group.
Roger D. Kornberg, Shoucheng Zhang and Michael I. Jordan made keynote speeches on Treatment of Human Disease, Quantum Leap for Computing, Computational Thinking and Data Thinking. The three top scientists shared with the audiences the scientific research and innovation achievements in the relevant frontier. In the afternoon, Prof. Samuel Chao Chung Ting attended the special symposium of the forum and made a presentation on “The Latest Findings of the Five Years of the AMS Experiment on the International Space Station”.
Fudan Science and Innovation Forum is hosted by Fudan University, organized by Fudan Institute for Advance Study, and sponsored by Zhongzhi Enterprise Group. The forum has been held since 2015. The forum aims to establish a worldwide exchange and sharing platform, to focus on the frontier and innovation trend of global science, to implement the national strategy of innovation-driven development, to make important contributions to building Shanghai into the world’s most influential technology and innovation center. The forum of this year lasted for three days, including a main forum and four sub-forums. The theme focused on multiple fields, including biomedical science, artificial intelligence, big data, innovation and entrepreneurship. More than 400 guests who are active in the fields of academic, business and politics participated in the forum this year.