Special TechTalk

March 25, 2026 (Wednesday) 10:30pm-11:30pm
Flexible electronics is a totally new technological field sharing equal performance with traditional microelectronics. It has unique features such as transformability, portability, light-weight, and large-area application, etc. It is a highly integrated form of disruptive technological innovation. Industrial Internet is a result of the new generation of information technology integrated with manufacturing, which is now driving industrial economy forward from digitalization to closer networking and smarter development. “Flexible Electronics+” will lead the future scientific and technological development of China, improve China’s national competitiveness, and mutually promote the deep integration of networking with smart development and high-quality industrial development. It can give a powerful boost to China’s switch from a big power to a strong power, which is significant in changing the global economic, profit and safety patterns.

February 24, 2025 (Monday) 10:30-11:30pm
Under the impact of global climate change, tremendous land use land cover changes, and extensive human interventions, urban areas face grand challenges in water security and green development. Ensuring urban water security requires ensuring quality and quantity of drinking water, sanitation, human well-being, water productivity, socio-economic values, ecosystems and environmental health, and mitigating water-related hazards. To resolve urban water security-related issues, a systematic framework by linking natural and social water cycles is urgently needed. Xia proposed the “Urban Water System, version 5.0” featuring “water quantity-quality-ecology” system approach by linking urban systems with natural river basin systems and applied it to the smart basin management, flash flood forecasting, and disaster mitigation. Besides, Xia led the development of the “Yangtze River Simulator,” which integrates sky-to-ground monitoring and comprehensive numerical simulation of hydrological-related processes in the Yangtze River Basin to foster the early warning and decision making of water security and water governance.