On June 11 , 2024 , on the eve of the opening of the Food Industry Innovation and Development and Food Sugar Reduction Summit Forum, Zhang Chonghe, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of the China Light Industry Federation, and his delegation visited Yixing Institute of Food and Biotechnology, one of the organizers of the forum. Chen Jian, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief scientist of the Future Food Science Center of Jiangnan University, Qi Qingzhong, Chairman of the Light Industry Branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Honorary Chairman of the China Food Additives and Ingredients Association, Du Yazheng, Chairman of the China Food Additives and Ingredients Association, Ma Litian, Vice Chairman, Zhang Guangsheng, President of Yixing Institute of Food and Biotechnology, and leaders of various resident teams accompanied the investigation.

Zhang Chonghe and his delegation inspected the laboratories of the various teams in the institute, the public experimental platform, the pilot experimental platform and other areas. Academician Chen Jian gave a detailed introduction to the layout and basic construction of each module, and focused on introducing the institute's achievements in talent training and platform construction.

At the symposium, everyone had in-depth exchanges and elaborations on issues such as the current domestic food industry layout, industry business development trends, food quality and safety, and changes in the food industry structure. They closely focused on the theme of high-quality development of light industry in the new era, and put forward relevant suggestions and measures for the future development of the food industry.

President Zhang Chonghe said that the institute relies on the superior disciplines of Jiangnan University such as food science and bioengineering, as well as the talent resources and scientific and technological innovation elements in the fields of light industry such as food and biology, combined with local resources in Yixing, actively promotes the transformation of technological achievements, attracts many modern food and biological enterprises to settle here, and forms an industrial cluster represented by special medical food, functional food, and pre-prepared food, which makes the food and biological industry become an advantageous growth industry for high-quality development in Yixing. He emphasized that it is necessary to implement the requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping, implement national strategies, and deeply understand the "big food concept". It is necessary to integrate industries such as food, health care and tourism, adapt to local conditions, have distinctive characteristics, complement each other's advantages, and develop in a coordinated manner, so as to enhance the cultural added value of the food industry and promote the high-quality development of the food industry; it is also necessary to stand at the forefront, strengthen technological innovation, increase investment in science and technology, develop future foods such as functional foods and special diets, and promote the high-quality development of the food industry with healthy, nutritious, rich, diverse, convenient and delicious innovative foods; it is also necessary to give full play to professional advantages, influence and credibility, make scientific explanations for hot issues of people's livelihood in food, and issue authoritative voices, so as to play a greater role in strengthening food safety, guiding rational consumption, and promoting the development of the "big health" industry.

Academician Chen Jian said that President Zhang Chonghe's suggestion is far-sighted. In the future, biotechnology will be a new quality productivity, and the new quality development of the food industry cannot be separated from biomanufacturing. The Future Research Institute will continue to give full play to the advantages of disciplinary integration, driven by innovation, accelerate the research of key technologies, and promote the development of new quality productivity in the food industry with cutting-edge science and technology, promote the prosperity of my country's food industry, and make important contributions to meeting the people's growing needs for a better life.

Yixing Institute of Food and Biotechnology is a new research and development institution jointly established by a team of academicians and experts from Jiangnan University, Yixing Economic Development Zone and Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute. It was officially unveiled and put into operation in August 2022. Academician Chen Jian said that the institute has hired 10 academicians from the two academies as scientific consultants of the institute, and introduced 14 academician and professor teams from universities and research institutions such as Jiangnan University, Jiangsu University, Sichuan University, South China University of Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University and Shenzhen Institute of Agricultural Genomics of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , forming a professional research and development force with 19 academicians and professors as academic leaders and more than 100 master and doctoral students as R&D backbones. It actively provides technical services and industry-university-research cooperation for enterprises in the industry field, accelerates the transformation of scientific research results, and has signed more than 20 technical contracts with well-known enterprises in the industry . It has built a joint experimental center with Beijing Green Jinke and introduced 5 high-quality enterprises to settle in the industrial park, becoming an important support platform for the development of Yixing's light industry.

The Food Industry Innovation and Development and Food Sugar Reduction Summit Forum is hosted by the China Food Additives and Ingredients Association and co-organized by Jiangsu Hanguang Sweetener Co., Ltd., Jiangnan University Future Food Science Center, and Yixing Institute of Food and Biotechnology.