China Sets 2026 Science and Engineering Research Challenges

The China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) has released its 2026 list of 30 major scientific questions, engineering challenges, and industrial technology problems, setting a strategic roadmap for the nation’s research community during the first year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan period.

Announced on July 15 at the main forum of the 28th CAST Annual Conference in Beijing, the list comprises 10 frontier scientific questions, 10 engineering and technical challenges, and 10 industrial technology problems. According to CCTV News, the initiative serves as a “wind vane” to guide the continuous output of original and transformative scientific and technological achievements.

A Strategic Roadmap for the 15th Five-Year Plan

The 2026 release carries particular significance as it marks the first year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030), which emphasizes “accelerating high-level scientific and technological self-reliance” and developing “new quality productive forces.” The selected challenges are explicitly designed to align with these national priorities.

CAST President Wan Gang, speaking at the final selection meeting on June 2, underscored the strategic importance of the initiative. As reported by the China National Academy of Innovation Strategy, Wan Gang stated: “2026 is the first year of the ‘15th Five-Year Plan’ and a critical year for advancing Chinese-style modernization steadily.” He called on the scientific community to “accelerate the resolution of problems such as China’s relatively weak original innovation capability and some key core technologies being controlled by others.”

The 30 Challenges: From the Hodge Conjecture to Climate-Resilient Agriculture

The selection process, overseen by a final committee of 23 scientists, evaluated proposals across four dimensions: frontier nature, leadership, innovation, and strategic importance. The rigorous process included review, evaluation, and voting.

Frontier Scientific Questions

The 10 frontier science questions span fundamental mathematics, energy, AI, and health sciences. Notably, the list includes the Hodge Conjecture — one of the seven Clay Millennium Prize Problems in mathematics — signaling China’s ambition to contribute to foundational theoretical science. Other questions address magnetically confined fusion burning plasma, the evolution of embodied autonomous intelligence, bio-inspired computing paradigms, AI-powered 6G communication networks, biomimetic organoid chips, and the correlation between Alzheimer’s disease and brain lymphatic circulation.

Engineering and Technical Challenges

The engineering challenges focus on practical, high-impact technologies. These include intelligent perception in deep-sea environments, coordinated observation of extreme weather using space-air-ground mobile platforms, space computing center construction, full-sensory interconnection technologies, safe mining in ultra-deep coal mines exceeding 1,000 meters, large model-driven space robots for autonomous exploration, AI-driven precision design of functional foods, and holographic digital simulation of dynamic human body models.

Industrial Technology Problems

The industrial problems are notably market-oriented and practical. They cover next-generation spectral prospecting equipment, low-cost intelligent manufacturing for commercial satellite constellations, intelligent regulation of flexible resources under new power systems, lightweight DC transmission for deep-sea wind power, aviation electric propulsion systems for the low-altitude economy, climate-resilient agriculture, synthetic biology-driven microbial pesticides, multi-target drug development, and quality improvement of traditional Chinese medicinal materials.

A Decade of Priority-Setting

Since CAST launched this initiative in 2018, it has cumulatively released 249 major scientific and technological questions and challenges across eight editions. As Guangming Daily reported, the annual exercise has become an influential mechanism for identifying frontier research directions and guiding resource allocation across China’s scientific ecosystem.

Key Themes: AI, Space, Energy, and Health

Several dominant themes emerge from the 2026 list. Artificial intelligence features prominently across all three categories — from embodied intelligence and AI+6G to large model-driven robotics and AI-era network resilience. Space technology is another major focus, with challenges addressing space computing centers, autonomous space robots, and commercial satellite constellation manufacturing. Energy transition is well-represented through fusion plasma research, new power systems, deep-sea wind power, and ultra-deep coal mining. Health and longevity challenges — including Alzheimer’s research, organoid chips, functional foods, and multi-target drugs — align with China’s aging population demographics.

Implications for Global Science and Technology

The release of these challenges offers insight into China’s strategic scientific priorities for the next five years. By publicly identifying these problems, CAST aims to mobilize the country’s vast research workforce — spanning hundreds of national-level academic societies and thousands of institutions — toward common goals. The inclusion of both pure mathematics (the Hodge Conjecture) and highly applied industrial problems reflects China’s dual-track approach: pursuing fundamental breakthroughs while addressing immediate technological bottlenecks.

Wan Gang emphasized that CAST must “organize and mobilize national societies to deeply serve national strategies, focus on the key areas of the 15th Five-Year Plan and strategic emerging industries, and carry out strategic, forward-looking, and systematic decision-making consultation.”

What to Watch For

As China’s research institutions and universities begin aligning their work with these 30 challenges, the coming years will reveal which teams and institutions emerge as leaders in each domain. The extent to which international collaboration will be pursued — particularly for challenges like the Hodge Conjecture and fusion plasma research — remains an open question. What is clear is that the 2026 CAST list provides the clearest roadmap yet of where China’s scientific community will focus its talent and resources for the next half-decade.