The Third Conference of the International Science, Technology and Innovation Forum (ISTIF) of Boao Forum for Asia took place in Zhuhai. The University of Macau (UM) today (21 September) held a parallel session on ‘Marine Science and Technology: towards “Blue” Sustainable Development’, during which several scholars had in-depth discussions on marine economy, marine ecology and pollution, and marine equipment and engineering. Yonghua Song, rector of UM and Wang Chunming, director of the Research Services and Knowledge Transfer Office, attended the opening ceremony and plenary session of the conference.

Yuen Ka-Veng, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UM and co-chair of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Smart Cities, was the moderator of the parallel session held by UM. He discussed with experts and scholars at home and abroad how to improve the prediction and monitoring of marine disasters, promote the development of China’s marine equipment industry, and facilitate the sustainable development of the marine economy. In addition, Wang Yitao, director of the Macao Centre for Research and Development in Chinese Medicine and founding director of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, represented UM as a panellist in the parallel session on ‘Traditional Chinese Medicine: The Way Forward’. The university also set up a booth at the venue of the opening ceremony and plenary session to promote its ‘3+3+3+3’ system for research innovation and results transfer, as well as the development of the Department of Ocean Science and Technology of the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Centre for Regional Oceans.