Conference Report丨2025 China Coatings Industry Future Technology Development Conference concluded successfully in Suzhou

In the midsummer, the south of the Yangtze River is covered with green and the pavilions are covered with red. From June 24 to 26, the 2025 China Coatings Industry Future Technology Development Conference was grandly held in Suzhou, a famous city in the south of the Yangtze River. Nearly 300 representatives from national ministries and commissions, as well as well-known universities, research institutes and coatings upstream and downstream companies such as Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Jiangnan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Beijing University of Science and Technology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Institute of Marine Chemical Research, gathered together to draw a new coating landscape for the future technology development of China's coatings industry.

This conference is hosted by China Coatings Industry Association. With the theme of "Leading the Frontier, Digital Empowerment", it will deeply discuss related frontier technologies and future scientific research and innovation development issues such as coating technology innovation and development, new intelligent coatings and special functional coatings, application research of new green and low-carbon coatings, and AI technology empowering the frontier exploration of the coatings industry. It will implement the requirements of the national industrial strategic emerging industry policy for scientific and technological innovation in the coatings industry, promote high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement in the coatings industry, promote collaborative research on key core technologies related to coatings, promote the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, accelerate the "artificial intelligence +" action in the coatings industry, deepen the docking and exchange between industry, academia, research and application, and deepen the combination of industry, academia, research and application, so as to promote the development of new quality productivity in the coatings industry with digital empowerment.

Liu Jie, Secretary-General of China Coatings Industry Association, Li Yongliang, Director of the Science and Equipment Department of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation and Director of the National Chemical Industry Productivity Promotion Center, Xiao Jinsong, Director of the China Academy of Raw Materials Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Chen De, Academician of the Norwegian Academy of Engineering, the Royal Norwegian Academy of Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences, and President of the Central Research Institute of Shiming Technology, Ding Yanmei, Cheng Leinan, Shen Xiaozhong, Hui Zhengquan, Vice Presidents of China Coatings Industry Association, Lu Yong, Chairman of Suzhou Shiming Technology Co., Ltd., Gui Taijiang, Director of the Technical Expert Working Committee of China Coatings Industry Association, Li Xiaoyu, Director of the Science and Technology Working Committee, and other industry leaders, experts and professors, upstream and downstream entrepreneurs of coatings, technical leaders, teachers and students from universities and research institutes attended the conference.

The conference was hosted by Gui Taijiang, Director of the Technical Expert Working Committee of China Coatings Industry Association, Liu Ren, Secretary-General of the Science and Technology Working Committee of China Coatings Industry Association and Dean of the School of Chemistry and Materials Engineering of Jiangnan University, Shen Liang, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Jiangxi Science & Technology Normal University, Liu Huicheng, Deputy General Manager of COSCO Kansai Paint Chemical Co., Ltd., Liu Xianwen, Standing Committee Member of the Technical Expert Working Committee of China Coatings Industry Association, and Li Xiaoyu, Director of the Science and Technology Working Committee of China Coatings Industry Association.

Secretary-General Liu Jie said in his speech that in recent years, the coatings industry has made profound progress by continuously launching new products, targeting new downstream applications, and meeting new market demands. At present, the industry is in a critical period of structural transformation. New industrialization requires the transformation and upgrading of modern manufacturing. The core of new industrialization is the development of advanced manufacturing. Competition in the coatings industry has intensified, and the industry needs to respond to the homogeneous "involution" through scientific and technological innovation, product quality improvement, and service mode optimization. The Future Technology Development Conference of China's Coatings Industry aims to build a technology innovation platform. Technological innovation is the core path to promote the healthy, sustainable and high-quality development of the industry. The integrated cooperation of production, education, research and application will play an important role in promoting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and the development of enterprises. The technological achievements of universities and scientific research institutions are key resources for promoting innovation in the industry. We encourage enterprises and scientific researchers to strengthen docking and exchanges, build a long-term cooperation platform, and promote the implementation of technological achievements, so as to lead enterprises to embark on a path of specialization and innovation and form core competitiveness. It is hoped that through this conference, we can further build industry consensus, gather expert wisdom, and jointly plan a new path for high-quality development of the coatings industry.

Director Li Yongliang pointed out in his speech that the requirements in the 2025 Government Work Report on "developing new quality productivity", "strengthening the leading position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation", and "strengthening key core technology research" have put forward more urgent demands and higher expectations for scientific and technological innovation in our coatings industry. For the future development of the industry, he proposed: first, we must strengthen source innovation and basic research; second, we must overcome the bottleneck of key core technologies; third, we must lead the green and low-carbon transformation of the industry; fourth, we must deepen the integration of digital intelligent technologies.

The 31 cutting-edge reports at the conference covered six major modules: innovative development of coatings technology, new materials and technologies, radiation curing technology, high-performance and special functional coatings, AI technology empowering the future development of the coatings industry, and special functional/smart coatings, providing an academic feast for the delegates.

Li Yongliang, Director of the Science and Equipment Department of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, Xiao Jinsong, Director of the China Academy of Raw Materials Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and Chen De, Academician of the Norwegian Academy of Engineering, the Royal Norwegian Academy of Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences, and President of the World Famous Technology Central Research Institute, discussed the opportunities and challenges facing my country's coatings industry, the development direction of scientific and technological innovation, and the implementation path and industrialization practice of low-carbon emission reduction from the perspective of industry macro-policies and economic development.

Colleges and universities and research institutes are important academic support forces for this conference. Professor Liang Fuxin of Tsinghua University, Professor Zhou Shuxue of Fudan University, Professor Yan Feng of Soochow University, and Zhang Binbin, a researcher at the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, focused on new materials and technologies, and demonstrated the cutting-edge design of super-slip double-capped PDMS molecular brush coatings, plasma liquid antibacterial materials, water-based self-stratified coatings based on Janus materials, and bionic super-liquid-repellent anti-corrosion and anti-fouling materials; Professor Nie Jun of Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Professor Liang Hongbo of Nanchang Hangkong University, Professor Liu Ren of Jiangnan University, Professor Jiang Xuesong of Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Professor Liu Chengguo of Nanjing Forestry University shared the latest progress in coating technology in the field of radiation curing; Professor Zhang Dawei of Beijing University of Science and Technology, Associate Professor Zhang Guobin of Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and Sheng Hongxian Hu Guangjun, director of the Advanced Materials Research Institute, and Zhang Hao, associate professor at Fudan University, focused on artificial intelligence, bringing far-reaching impacts of cutting-edge AI technology on the coatings industry; Li Xiaoyu, professor at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Zhang Qinghua, professor at Zhejiang University, Zhu Aiping, professor at Yangzhou University, Xi Kai, professor at Nanjing University, Fang Liang, professor at Nanjing Tech University, Shen Liang, professor at Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Li Weili, professor at Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Dong Liangliang, professor at Jiangnan University, Zhang Weidong, China Construction Southwest Institute, and Li Lu, Tianjin Baotou Steel Rare Earth Research Institute, focused on the needs of various emerging industries, and shared their views on the basic research and application progress of high-performance, special, and intelligent coatings, demonstrating the latest achievements and technological breakthroughs in improving coating performance in special fields.

The participation of coatings and raw materials companies highlighted the industry orientation of the conference. Representatives of raw materials companies, including Dr. Wang Tao, R&D engineer of Jiangsu Sanmu Group, Wang Haozhen, technical manager of Hubei Huifu Nanomaterials, Bao Shutao, director of the Technology Center of Shandong Lubei Enterprise Group, and Wang Mu, technology business manager of Xicheng New Materials, demonstrated the synergistic effect of innovative raw materials in coatings, making coating production and products safer, more efficient and more sustainable; at the same time, Liang Shanghai, chief engineer of Xinhe New Materials Co., Ltd., shared the practical application of high-performance coatings in the field of bridge steel structures.

During the conference, the inaugural meeting of the Science and Technology Working Committee of the China Coatings Industry Association and the 2025 China Coatings Industry Industry-University-Research-Application and Achievement Transformation Matchmaking Exchange Conference were also held. At the meeting, certificates were issued to the director, deputy director, standing committee member, committee member, secretary general and deputy secretary general of the Science and Technology Working Committee of the China Coatings Industry Association.

Since 2019, the China Coatings Industry Future Technology Development Conference has been successfully held for 5 sessions. The convening of this conference has drawn a clear blueprint for the coatings industry, which is of great and far-reaching significance. It is not only an active response to the country's call to implement the innovation-driven development strategy and build a strong country in science and technology, but also successfully built a high-end docking and exchange platform integrating "production, learning, research and application". From the current key technical difficulties to the future cutting-edge development, it has brought together the elites of the industry, gathered the wisdom of the industry, and the collision and integration of cutting-edge ideas, accelerated the transformation of innovative achievements, and accurately diagnosed the pain points of the industry, which has effectively promoted the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial development. Looking forward to the upcoming "15th Five-Year Plan", the consensus, vitality and exploration paths gathered by this conference will undoubtedly lay a solid foundation for the entire coatings industry to get off to a good start and take a good step on the new journey. We firmly believe that under the strong drive of the scientific and technological innovation engine, the coatings industry will usher in a new chapter of development with higher quality, more sustainability and more resilience, and jointly write a new glory of prosperity and progress in the industry!

The conference also received strong support from Jiangsu Sanmu Group Co., Ltd., Suzhou Shiming Technology Co., Ltd., Hubei Huifu Nanomaterials Co., Ltd., Shandong Lubei Chemical Co., Ltd., Xinhe New Materials Co., Ltd., Xicheng New Materials Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Suzhou Jiren High-tech Materials Co., Ltd., China Construction Southwest Design Institute Co., Ltd., Hunan Xinweiling Metal New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., Guodu Chemical (Kunshan) Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Hualun Chemical Co., Ltd., Zhongheng Scale (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., Shanghai Pengze Mechanical and Electrical Technology Co., Ltd., Hunan Jufa Pigment Co., Ltd. and other companies.