Approved by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and guided by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the International Forum on Microscopy (IFM2025) was held in Zhejiang from August 8 to 10. The forum was co-organized by the China Instrument and Control Society and Harbin Institute of Technology and co-hosted by the Microscopy Division of the China Instrument and Control Society and Beijing Information Science & Technology University. Academician Tan Jiubin, Vice Chairman of the China Instrument and Control Society and Dean of the Institute of Precision Instrument Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology, served as the General Chair of the Forum and presided over the Forum. Prof. Tony Wilson from the University of Oxford, Vice President and Secretary-General Zhang Tong from the China Instrument and Control Society, and Professor Wang Xingfen, Vice President of Beijing Information Science & Technology University, attended the conference and delivered remarks.

Keynote Session

Academician Tan Jiubin Presiding over the Forum

Professor Tony Wilson, FREng, Delivering a Remark

Vice President and Secretary-General Zhang Tong Delivering a Remark

Professor Wang Xingfen Delivering a Remark

The Forum invited leading scientists, technical experts, and entrepreneurs from the field of microscopy from various countries to discuss major scientific issues, key technical challenges, and significant opportunities in the international field of microscopy. They also shared major innovations and progress in the field of microscopy and based on the global trends in science and technology, predicted the development direction, technical routes, and global demand for microscopy technology over the next 5 to 10 years. They further explored the development trends of the international microscopy industry and proposed suggestions to promote the sustainable development of microscopy research and industry worldwide. Over 300 participants from 14 countries and regions, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Russia, Austria, Iran, and Hong Kong SAR, attended the conference in person, while more than 50,000 people watched the live broadcast.

Renowned international experts, including Academician Zhang Ze from Zhejiang University, Academician Lihong Wang from the California Institute of Technology, Professor Franz Josef Giessibl from the University of Regensburg (inventor of the qPlus atomic force microscope), Professor Martin Booth from the University of Oxford, Academician Dayong Jin from the University of Technology Sydney, former President of the European Optical Society and Professor Paul Urbach from Delft University of Technology, Professor Daniel Jaque García from the Autonomous University of Madrid, and Professor Chen Liangyi from Peking University, delivered keynote speeches in the keynote session.

Academician Zhang Ze Delivering a Keynote Speech

Academician Lihong Wang Delivering a Keynote Speech

Professor Franz Josef Giessibl Delivering a Keynote Speech

Professor Martin Booth Delivering a Keynote Speech

Academician Dayong Jin Delivering a Keynote Speech

Professor Paul Urbach Delivering a Keynote Speech

Professor Daniel Jaque Delivering a Keynote Speech

Professor Chen Liangyi Delivering a Keynote Speech

In addition to the main forum, 10 parallel sessions were held where scholars and experts exchanged views on significant research progress and breakthroughs, major scientific and technical challenges, and new technological routes with development advantages in various subfields of microscopy technology, including optical microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy, and ultrasonic microscopy. They also explored new principles, technologies, and directions derived from interdisciplinary research and discussed the development trends, new application scenarios, and potential breakthroughs in the field over the next decade.

Parallel Sessions

The Forum also include a closed-door meeting on the development strategy of high-end microscopy, chaired by Academician Tan Jiubin. The participants deeply discussed the key technical in the independent development of high-end microscopy in China, the resilience and security of the innovation chain, industry chain, supply chain, talent chain, and capital chain for high-end microscopy, the focus and development path for the modernization of the industrial chain and the advanced foundation of the high-end microscopy industry, the major application scenarios, scientific issues, new forms of instruments, new industry forms, and the overall development roadmap for the high-end microscopy field over the next 10 to 15 years, the current national measurement system's support capacity for the high-end microscopy industry, and the new generation of the national measurement system facing 2040 and reached a preliminary consensus on these issues.