The First PubTech Conference Successfully Held

On June 15, 2023, the First PubTech Conference organized by China National Publications Import and Export (Group) Co., Ltd. (CNPIEC) was held successfully at the China National Convention Center in Beijing. Themed on “Innovation, Opportunities and Challenges”, the conference provides a platform for sharing valuable insights and highlighting the role of technology in driving the progress of publishing by keeping an eye on both present and future trends. It aims to deliver more benefits to the public and create a better future for the mankind through the publishing sector.

As an important part of the BIBF this year, PubTech is expected to effectively promote the deep integration and development of the publishing industry. The conference was chaired by Zhang Jichen, Director and Deputy General Manager of China Publishing & Media Co., Ltd. Other attendees who delivered speeches included Yang Wei, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Chairman of the CAST UN Consultative Committee on Open Science and Global Partnership (CCOS), Caroline Sutton, CEO of STM, and Lin Liying, General Manager of CNPIEC and a member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee.

Yang Wei stressed the importance of IT as a key driving force of publishing progress and pointed out that the prosperity of big data and artificial intelligence has brought fresh opportunities for the booming of publishing, and is expected to support open science and open publishing at the technical level. He also anticipated that the Chinese publishing sector, including journal publishing data platforms, would carve out a space at the global stage by adopting advanced concepts and technologies and fully leveraging the country’s existing achievements in the Internet and relevant algorithms.

Lin Liying delivered a speech on behalf of the organizer, pointing out that the BIBF, as a leading event in the publishing sector, remains committed to addressing cutting-edge issues and boosting the development of the sector. She stressed that CNPIEC has transformed from a traditional trader to a content service provider and is now transitioning into a data operator. It plans to complete business layout in new retailing, new reading, and new technology segments while continuing to improve relevant products and services during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. She also expressed the hope to join the industry-wide efforts to explore new paths of publishing-technology integration, contribute to the high-quality development of the publishing sector, and give better play to its role in passing on human civilization and wisdom.

Caroline Sutton said in her speech that STM is a representative of scientific publishers around the globe that is dedicated to advancing open research, research integrity and social responsibility. She believed that all technology brings with it great opportunities as well as challenges, and it is by coming together to explore and assess new technologies that we can progress scientific publishing for all actors and most importantly to best advance integrity in scientific research.

In the keynote speech session, Michael Bhaskar, a well-known scholar at Oxford Brookes University and a consultant writer of DeepMind, analyzed the different scenarios of future publishing and the publishing changes driven by technological changes, and affirmed the core value of content in the publishing sector. Niels Peter Thomas, President of Springer Nature, Greater China and Managing Director of Books, shared his experience and suggestions of digital transformation from the perspective of an international publishing organization. Du Xian, Editor-in-Chief and Director of People’s Medical Publishing House (PMPH), introduced PMPH’s efforts of exploring new paths of integrated development of publishing. Guido F. Herrmann, Senior Vice President of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., expressed his belief that technological innovation would help enhance the global influence of China’s scientific research.

A highlight of the PubTech Conference was the presentation of achievements of technological attempts and practices in the publishing field. Four domestic and foreign enterprises released their latest technology application achievements in this sector. Li Yunfeng, General manager of Zhongtu Kexin Digital Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. released an AI publishing hub integration platform to promote the upgrade of digital publishing, academic publishing and other academic services through using big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies. Shan Feng, Vice General Manager of China Focus Ltd. released Libraverse, an integrated solution of in-depth synthesis technology for interactive content development, virtual scene construction and digital brand promotion in the publishing culture industry based on key technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual digital humans. Rosalia Da Garcia, Managing Director, Asia Pacific and Central Asia of Sage Publications, Inc. shared its latest services in higher education combining AI technology. Adibah Omar, CEO of Perbadanan Kota Buku, also known as “Book City” in Malaysia, released its digital reading products for countries and regions along the Belt and Road in order to cater to the reading needs of the future generation in these areas.

At the session “High End Dialogue: The Future of Publishing Driven by Artificial Intelligence” chaired by Professor Xu Lifang from Wuhan University, a number of celebrities shared their insights into the impact of AI on future publishing in their fields around the aforesaid theme. The speakers included Chen Dan, Vice President of the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication (BIGC), Caroline Sutton, STM’s CEO, Henning Schoenenberger, Vice President of Content Innovation at Springer Nature, Michael Cahill, Senior Director National Geographic Learning, ELT ASIA, and Li Yunfeng, General Manager of Zhongtu Kexin. They agreed that, facing the new issues brought by artificial intelligence in the current context, researchers must actively adapt to future publishing trends and develop new publishing paradigms by upholding the principle of “Tech for Good” and constantly updating their knowledge structure.

This conference was organized by the CNPIEC in collaboration with School of Publishing, East China Normal University, Research Institute, Peking University Publishing, School of Publishing, Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, School of Publishing，Sichuan University. Niels Peter Thomas praised PubTech in his closing speech for turning BIBF into a more dynamic, forward-looking, and cutting-edge event. Zhang Jichen expressed the hope that the conference would continue to play a bridging role in the global publishing community as the most influential and representative brand event worldwide held during the BIBF.