Since 2018, CAST has conducted an annual nationwide征集 (solicitation) of major scientific and technological questions. The 2026 edition screened submissions across four dimensions — frontier significance, leadership, innovation, and strategic value — through rigorous review, evaluation, and voting procedures, ultimately selecting 30 items that serve as wind vanes for original and disruptive breakthroughs.
The 10 Frontier Science Questions
The list is headed by the Hodge Conjecture, one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems in mathematics, which asks whether certain geometric shapes can be built from simpler algebraic building blocks. Other questions include the physics of magnetically confined fusion burning plasma, the evolution mechanism of electrolyte microenvironments, the regional differentiation of human-nature feedback systems, and the interaction between urban green space and human health. The list also features embodied autonomous intelligence measurement and evolution, the first principles of bio-inspired computing paradigms at the mesoscale, AI-augmented 6G communication agent networks, the mechanism of artificial photosynthesis, and the brain's neural representations of intelligent behavior.
The 10 Engineering Technology Challenges
These target practical bottlenecks: deep-sea environment intelligent perception, ultra-high-temperature materials for aero engines, next-generation brain-computer interface chips, large-scale space-based computing infrastructure, high-performance carbon fiber mass production, intelligent manufacturing of all-solid-state batteries, resilience of urban underground infrastructure, precision genome editing delivery systems, autonomous navigation for unmanned systems in extreme environments, and cross-media intelligent perception technologies.
The 10 Industrial Technology Problems
Industrial priorities include rapid intelligent mineral prospecting under complex international conditions, terahertz communication device industrialization, high-end medical imaging equipment core components, green hydrogen production from offshore wind power, next-generation AI chips for edge computing, intelligent connected vehicle operating systems, low-altitude economy air traffic management, biodegradable plastic performance optimization, agricultural precision breeding gene-editing tools, and industrial digital twin platform interoperability standards.
The release serves as a national signal: China's scientific establishment is systematically identifying the hard problems — from pure mathematics to factory-floor automation — and betting that concentrated effort, sustained over years, can move the needle on problems that have stumped researchers worldwide.