In the current era of rapid development in technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, 5G, cloud computing, and blockchain, the integration of the healthcare industry, including medical science and bioinformatics, with new technologies has become an inevitable trend. How should this integration be achieved? What are the pain points, and how can they be addressed?

    From December 24th to 26th, the 8th International Summit on Translational Medical Informatics and the 2nd Academic Conference of the Sichuan Bioinformatics Society were held in Chengdu, where three academicians and over a thousand experts and scholars presented their research findings.

    This conference included 114 reports, with well-known experts in the field such as Academicians Chen Jing, Chen Shiqing, Pan Yi, and Professor Zhou Gangqiao delivering presentations.

    Academician Chen Jing believes that the future development trend of bioinformatics medicine is to lead with "Internet Plus" and to be a typical example of the large integration of big data, big information, big knowledge, and big wisdom in a large three-dimensional space. He provided a detailed analysis report on how to achieve this large integration. Academician Chen Shiqing introduced in detail the research results of the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine under the background of artificial intelligence for precise individualized medical treatment.

    The "Summit on Translational Medical Informatics" is an annual medical informatics event that gathers academicians from Chinese and foreign institutions, professors from well-known universities, and top scholars. It serves the core of the "Healthy China 2030 Strategy," building an academic exchange platform for the world's top talents and scientists from various countries, promoting the integration of bioinformatics, technological innovation, and the development of the health industry. This conference was guided by the Sichuan Provincial Association for Science and Technology, hosted by the Sichuan Bioinformatics Society, undertaken by West China Hospital of Sichuan University, and co-organized by Tencent Medical Health (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. The theme of the conference was "Frontiers of Bioinformatics - Advanced Data and Smart Health in Artificial Intelligence."

    The opening ceremony of the conference was presided over by Professor Shen Bairong, the chairman of the Sichuan Bioinformatics Society and West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Professor Huang Jian, the vice chairman of the Sichuan Bioinformatics Society and the University of Electronic Science and Technology, and Zhou Zhen, the general manager of China Electronics Data Services Co., Ltd. and the vice chairman of the Sichuan Bioinformatics Society. Attending and addressing the ceremony was Zhou Liping, a member of the Party Group and vice chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Association for Science and Technology. Chairman Zhou pointed out the importance of deeply implementing the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Tenth Plenary Session of the Sichuan Provincial Committee, integrating the concept of scientific and technological innovation, taking reform and innovation as the fundamental driving force, and leading the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, giving full play to the radiation and driving effect of Chengdu, promoting the deep integration of bioinformatics with health care and the industrial chain, innovating medical service models, strengthening the service of scientific and technological transfer and transformation, and comprehensively promoting industrial collaboration and open cooperation to provide strong support for creating an important growth pole and new driving force for high-quality development in bioinformatics.

    A chief consultant appointment ceremony was held at the conference, where Chairman Zhou Liping presented the appointment letters of the Chief Consultant of the Sichuan Bioinformatics Society to Academicians Chen Jing, Pan Yi, and Chen Shiqing. They will contribute to the construction of a high-end information technology service platform for innovative research and transformation of biomedicine in the new era, striving to make Sichuan a frontier in the field of bioinformatics in China.

    In addition to the main forum, there were 13 thematic forums including "Smart Hospital Construction," "Medical and Health Information Communication," "Smart Maternal and Child Health," "Bio-Medical Data Privacy Protection and Secure Sharing," "Smart Medical Education," "Rheumatology and Immunology and Bioinformatics," "Bio-Pharmaceutical Technology Achievement Transformation," "Precision Medicine," "Neurology and Bioinformatics," "Primary-level Oncology," "Smart Immunology," "Smart Agriculture," and "Internet Hospital Management," as well as one young scholar forum on "Bio-Medical Information." There were also six branch establishment ceremonies. The participants highly recognized the organization of this conference. The forum inherited the brand characteristics of the previous seven sessions, focusing on the frontier technology of internationalization, in-depth discussion on the latest trends and concepts related to the integration of bioinformatics with artificial intelligence, advanced data, and smart health from multiple dimensions, and exploring the integrated innovation and development of the bio-pharmaceutical information industry from hot topics such as scientific and technological innovation, technology transformation, and industrial upgrading.