Speaking at the event, Geraldine McCafferty, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Beijing, said the forum was "an excellent example of UK-China collaboration." She said it had built a platform for experts in the innovation field and business representatives from China and the UK to communicate and cooperate and had promoted cooperation between the two sides in areas such as technological innovation, digital economy, and sustainable development.

Yan Wu, Deputy Director of the Bureau of International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed further cooperation between the two countries in the fields of artificial intelligence and digital technology industries.

Other participants included academics, government officials from the British Embassy in Beijing and industry experts from the China-Britain Business Council and Oxford University Innovation Technology Transfer (Suzhou) Co, Limited.

Professor Xiaolan Fu, TMCD Director, also spoke at the event.

The 7th China-UK Innovation and Development Forum was co-organised with the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institutes of Science and Development (CASISD), the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Technology for Development (CASTED) of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the China-Britain Business Council.