 Thank you very much. And a very warm welcome to all of you here in the room, to those of you following us on the live stream, whether in English or Chinese. And most definitely a warm welcome to my wonderful panel here this afternoon. You're joining this press conference at the 12th annual meeting of the new champions here in Tianjin, China. And when Professor Schwab decided to do a meeting in China 12 years ago, a lot of people, especially in Europe and the US, asked, why are you doing a meeting on technology and science in China? And I think it is fair to say after today and yesterday in the discussion we've seen here that a lot more people will understand why it's a good place to have a meeting on science, innovation, and technology. We want to take a closer look, yes, on science and technology, but also we want to do a little deep dive into the topic of what's the latest in science and research and the use of technology for food, health, and food safety. And I'm particularly happy that we have such a wonderful panel to talk about this subject here today. Let me quickly introduce them to you. We simply go by the seating order. So excuse me if I start with a gentleman to my immediate left. We're joined here by Carlos Moedas, who is the commissioner for research, science, and innovation of the European Commission. And while that is a minor aspect, I might add also co-chair of this annual meeting. To his immediate left, we are joined by Katrin DeBock. She's a professor of exercise and health at the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, right at the heart. And center of our panel here today, we're joined by Laura Neusturm, who's the professor for food biochemistry, also based in Zurich, Switzerland. That's not a Swiss bias by the forum. It's just that these ladies are excellent and happen to be based in Zurich. Then we're also joined by Eva Angoon, who's the professor at the University College in Dublin. And I've never heard this before, but you're a professor for biosystems and food engineering. So very intrigued to hear from you here today. And last but definitely not least, we're joined by Jean-Pierre Bourguignon here today, who's the president of the European Research Council, also based in Brussels. I'll stop talking now and head over to the commissioner. Commissioner Medes, the floor is yours. What would you say to somebody who's still doubting whether China is a good place to talk about science and technology? I think China is a great place to talk about technology and science. And it's a great opportunity for us Europeans to come here and tell you what we are the best and what are the good things that we do. And if there is something that we are really good at is fundamental science. And the European Research Council represents exactly the best of the best of science in Europe. And when I started, and Jean-Pierre Bourguignon is the president of the European Research Council, I can tell you that for me was really one of the amazing parts of my job was to meet people like Catherine Eiffel Laura to discuss science, because they are the best of the best. And the best of the best have, for me, two characteristics. One is that they're really good at what they do, of course. But the part of that, they are able to tell their stories in a way that engages people. And Europe needs that. And so I'm very proud to be here with the three of you, because you represent what we have really in Europe as the best science and the best research and the engagement with the public. I think that we have taken very seriously betting on fundamental science in Europe. We have a proposal for 100 billion euros for science and innovation for our next cycle of the budget. And that is thanks to people like you, people that have proved to the European taxpayer that investing in science is not only something great for society, but it's our duty. Because if you want to create jobs, if you want growth, you need to invest in science and innovation. So I'm extremely happy to be here, also because the sector that we're talking, which is health and in particularly food, is important for the future of the earth and the sustainability of us all. I think that health is one of these examples that people understand very well, that you can communicate with the people in Europe in a way that they understand what we do. And I think that you are a little bit the ambassadors that we have to talk about this subject matter in a way that people say, look, we're putting as European taxpayers, we're putting our money in the right place. And the right place is to think, how can we really, in terms of food and nutrition, how can we get to a better place? You know, we had these, I would call it, the way of looking at health for 100 years was about you diagnose, you treat, you recover. And the way they look at it is so different. It's about going from the illness to the patient or the illness to the person, the person at the center to go from a world of closed data to a world of open data. And to go from a world that will be not just human only, will be human plus technology led in terms of care, in terms of looking at the future. So, Luke, thank you very much for inviting me to be part of this conference. But you are really the stars of Europe and I'm very happy to be able to share these moments. Thank you, thank you, Commissioner. Now, Katrin, every morning I, when I take the bus to this conference center, I see in every park, basically in Tianjin, I see a group of Chinese citizens practicing Tai Chi or doing some open air exercise. And while I've been studying that, you've been going a little bit deeper on the subject of health and exercise. Maybe you can share with us, what are you working on? What are really the highlights and what's your passion about this topic? So, what my lab actually does and for which I have received a starting grant from ERC is we study how blood vessels interact with the muscle. And the reason why I am so interested in muscle is actually the following now. At this moment, we see really a massive rise in the number of people with non-communicable diseases such as obesity, the metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and also cancer. And these diseases have one thing in common, they can be prevented by exercise. That's why we exercise. And even though we all know that exercise makes you healthy or keeps you healthy, how exercise does so and the molecular mechanism behind this are very poorly understood. And obviously the muscle is central in this because the muscle contracts, the muscle induces movement and this movement then increases health. Now, even though we do understand a lot on how muscle increases health, particularly the muscle fibers have been very intensely studied. There are many more other cell types in the muscle and my lab is particularly interested in the blood vessels. Why? Because those blood vessels bring the food to the muscle but also deliver waste products out of the muscle and they deliver all health-promoting factors throughout our body, which then in the end impact on the brain or impact on our heart and make us healthy. So in detail, we study how blood vessels grow in the muscle upon exercise because we know that whenever you start to exercise, whenever you move, your blood vessels grow in the muscle and we hypothesize that this growth of blood vessels is really required for the health-promoting effects of exercise. And this we study using a combination of several techniques using mouse models, human samples and we hope to translate these findings to people with disease. So we actually study health and how exercise promotes health to find novel therapeutic targets to help out people with diseases such as obesity, such as the metabolic syndrome, et cetera. Thank you very much. And Laura, that's a wonderful bridge over to your work because you are fighting the same good fight then, Katri. But you are coming from a slightly different angle. So if I understand correctly, you're looking at how our diet can help promote health and I think you're also looking in particular at fiber, the role of fiber. Maybe you can add to what Katri just said and share your thoughts. Yeah, absolutely. So I could more or less use in several cases similar vocabulary and same words as Katri did. So we're also interested in preventing the occurrence of the non-communicable diseases. So in a way, how could we, with our diet and with our food that we eat influence and prevent the rising of the cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, for example. And this is, so it's again, instead of going from curing illnesses to rather prevent the illness from arising in the first place. And the compound, as mentioned in my lab and what is in the center of our interest are dietary fibers. So fibers that you find in plant-based foods, they can be either insoluble, so hard solid fibers. And my group and also my ERC project is mostly focused on soluble fibers. So they're compounds that can be found in water solutions. They can be solubilized in water and they interact again with all the nutrients in our foods. So they can, for example, slow down the absorption of sugars in our gut. They can prevent and inhibit the reabsorption of cholesterol in our gut. So they modulate the absorption of different nutrients through interactions. And we, in my lab, we're developing methods how to measure these interactions and how to then reflect this to the health benefits of different types of fibers and in a way modifying or being able to measure them and optimize the intake or recommendations for dietary fiber intakes. And again, as Katrin similarly, wanting to work on a molecular level, understanding really deep down in the chemistry of the fibers and the molecules they interact with. Thank you, thank you very much. Eva, China had arguably had some issues with food safety in the past. That's no secret. I understand in your work you focus very much on imaging technology. And maybe you can share how that technology can contribute to a safer and more healthier diet. Sure. So just like to tell you, first of all, that the European Research Council has been fundamental in my setting up my research lab. I got an ERC starting grant a few years ago and that allowed me to set up my own research lab at University College Dublin and also to get together a team of researchers which has grown from just three researchers to now 10. And we all are specialists in hyperspectral imaging. So that's a special type of imaging where we look at objects at hundreds of different wavelengths. And this allows us to get information about the composition of these objects and to understand how they change in different biological systems. And we use hyperspectral imaging at a fundamental level and also through to an applied level. So with the ERC project, we're using hyperspectral imaging to try to understand how medical implants interact with the human body. So we're developing methods to measure the interactions between implants, basically polymers, okay, and water and proteins and cells because we think that these interactions are very important in the future compatibility of medical implants. But another important factor is how bacteria grow on these implants inside the body. So we are looking at new methods to try to understand this with the ERC project. But on a more applied level, we're also working with clinicians to develop screening tools for cancer using hyperspectral imaging. And also we're looking at bacteria that grow on food surfaces and on foods. So we go from the very microscopic even down to nanoparticles where we look at the interactions between nanomaterials and cells, for example, all the way up to the macroscopic level where we look at actual food produce. So we can detect bacteria growing on foods, for example. And we're trying to develop this further so we could in the future have new tools to measure food safety in an automated and fast way. So, yeah. Thank you very much. Jean-Bier, thank you first of all for bringing these fantastic researchers here to China. You've been working with a lot of researchers over the years. And obviously you brought three individuals here who have been very successful in what they do and, you know, cutting, breaking new ground. Let's say on our livestream there's a lot of young students, maybe, researchers themselves from China, from the world, listening. What's your advice to them? Well, I think it's a very good question because actually we need a new generation and you need the young people to be motivated to really do science. And today one can do science in many different ways. Of course, you need to get the training to get the stimulation to study science in depth. But now it's clear that actually there is not only the academic way but there could be also some other ways. And it's very important for me in what has been said to stress really how much the distance in some cases between fundamental research and applied research actually has been shortened. You can even speak about short-sickets in some cases. Some of the cases not. But still they are fundamental science which takes 10 years, 20 years, 30 years to really become really a new world. And the example I always give is quantum mechanics which of course was a curiosity for physicists in the early 19th century. Now it's the basics of every engineer today and nanotechnology and everything we are using at this level is of this kind. So the European Research Council from that point of view is a program of the European Union which really has been putting a lot of emphasis on younger people. So it shows that in particular it has been said by some of the people who spoke today that it really enabled them to develop a group around them. And these are two sides of this. One side of course is the resources which are put in disposal but also the other side is to convince the institution people are working in that really young people should be given confidence and the freedom to develop their activities. This is not so obvious because in some countries or some institutions actually you still want the elder people like me to really control everything and not give the free ride for the younger people. So I think for young people today I think it's very important that they are there to come up with their dreams and people who apply to ERC they know that if they want to have a chance of being successful they have to come up with their craziest idea if you allow me to formulate it this way to really be ambitious if they come with a business as usual they have no chance. So this is the idea that we really are looking for the best possible things for the future and I'm always very pleased actually pleased because we did it when I hear a grantees from the ERC who tell me I submitted a similar project to my national funding agency they refused it because it was too risky and I'm glad to hear that we do fund some risky project of course some will fail but that's the only way we can really get breakthroughs by really people being ambitious looking for great things. Now my final words have to do also with this international dimension I think maybe one comment we could get from the researchers who are here who have already told us about their research but also they already mentioned that they are not alone to do that they are really in teams and I'm sure their teams are very very international so this international dimension shows that on the one hand definitely research is a public science is a public good and therefore it has to be open it has to be accessible everywhere but also it's so important that we organize and we encourage and we facilitate really the brain circulation that is people being exposed to another environment is something which is the best way to grow actually and of course the key point is that there should be a circulation that is they are not in a place where everybody gets concentrated and stays there but I think from this point of view I think U.S.C. is really doing quite an important job presently we have exactly 35 grantees who are Chinese that is people are really based in Europe doing that actually they were already in Europe when they applied to ERC but we have more than 800 young Chinese who are either doctoral students or postdoc finance by ERC and we hope that some of them will consider spending enough time to Europe maybe coming back to China maybe developing things so I think science and ERC is one instrument which the European Commission has developed for that is really an instrument which is totally open to the world and we hope to participate in this circulation brain circulation which is absolutely critical for the future of science but also for the future of humanity altogether Thank you very much and let me ask our three professors here on a range from I feel like I'm talking to a three year old to the people here at the event actually are understanding the importance of basic research because let's face this this is not a science conference and you're curious and you're excluded because you crossed over from the academic world into public service but a lot of your fellow participants here are not the day-to-day business is not science do you feel they understand the importance of the work you do and the question goes to all of you I think so I think most of the people if not all the people here present show massive interest into basic science I think we meanwhile realize that there is a bridge between science and technology and that we need each other I mean if we want to stay relevant on the long term then we need to find ways to also connect with people who bring our discoveries to the public to the patients in my case so there is a really nice atmosphere from that point of view here in the conference You see it the same way It's one of the main reasons I came to this conference because I usually go to very specialized scientific conference so it's amazing to have the opportunity to talk about your science to people from completely different areas and what I found is people are very open and curious even if they don't necessarily understand what you're talking about they want to learn so it's a great opportunity for that So do you want to add to that? I mean I would fully agree with that I would say that people are at very different levels of how much they understand of the science that we do everybody appreciates and appreciates the importance of that but on the other hand it also tells me that for us it's very important to disseminate our research and disseminate the results that we get and also be able to tell the stories and the findings in different levels that everybody can understand also the importance of that Thank you very much Selfishly again I've asked all the questions so far let's open up the floor for questions and answers we have a microphone here if I could see a show of hands who would like to ask a question don't be shy well while you collect your courage maybe I can get another question to you commissioner you've been you're returning to the EMNC it's even your second time as a co-chair so listening to your fellow panellists it seems like you've been quite successful in putting science, innovation and tech on the agenda of the meeting where do you see the science and innovation dialogue between China and Europe developing in the coming years since I've started this job I was very fortunate to really have a fantastic dialogue with my counterparts here in China the minister of science and we created a co-fund basically a mechanism where we put around 100 million euros from the EU side and the Chinese side puts around 30 million euros and we have had more than 300 now participations and more than 100 projects where you have the Chinese researchers with the European researchers working together and the Chinese part funds their side we fund our side but we work together and I think that's very unique because I don't have a lot of those mechanisms in other parts of the world and so I've been here also to congratulate the Chinese government for their openness in creating in such a short span of time a mechanism that works very well so that's one of the ways the second one is with the ERC and all the principal investigators and the researchers that work in teams of the ERC grantees which Jean-Pierre just told us about it and I think that we have a fantastic opportunity I mean I think that if you look at innovation in basically some dimensions that you could say science and engineering in one side and the other side customers and efficiency I would say that Europeans have a long tradition of science and engineering and the Chinese today are leaders in terms of innovating towards the customer because you can with your scale immediately touch millions of people and also in terms of efficiency so if you put these four angles of innovation together you see that our relationship is a win-win it's really a win-win game where we can really make a difference because we can always win in both of these four dimensions so I'm very happy to be here and I'm very happy that our collaboration is getting better by the day and so we're working for the future and so in the next program we will renew I hope our collaboration with all of your Chinese students, PhDs researchers with our European counterparts Thank you Commissioner I understand we have a question from the lady in the back if you could identify your organization and tell us your name please Hi, I'm from Caixin Media from China and I have a I think it's a simple question how to motivate our scientists and researchers, especially the young generation to do such fundamental research because sometimes these kind of projects are hard to used into the clinical or practical field or hard to attract investment how to motivate them Thank you very much I just, I will just kick it off and think that I think that people love science if you explain science to people if you tell them the story they get very excited about it when I go to schools to see young people very very young people in a primary school and you come with a video of science and it's told in a way that they understand they just get very excited but probably don't do enough of that but so I can basically testify on this I am convinced that being a scientist is the best job there is in the world I can discover new things every day I'm very passionate about it for me it's also not that difficult to try and spread my passion about it on a daily basis I think there is still much to discover at the basis of changes of discovering things that change the world so I think it's a very nice profession to do I can also completely agree I think all scientists are very passionate about their work and I think with all the ups and downs that we get during our work it needs a certain passion because otherwise you would just give up I think what comes to translating the findings of fundamental science to practice it's a big hurdle and I think we scientists are often happy when we just discover something and we are able to find an answer to the question whether it's just out of academic interest or not and of course that's not sufficient we also need to bring it to practice and I think it is increasing the amount how much we interact with the industry and what there is between companies and universities but it's still not sufficient I think there has to be more active connections, networking being able to explore outside your own field and everything so it's kind of easy and comfortable just to stay within your enthusiastic researcher zone but I think we also have to actively push ourselves out and then in a way drag along the other others to the same direction I would strongly agree we are funded by the public so we have a strong duty to engage with them and try to explain what we are doing and to inspire the next generation I could share one really interesting engagement activity that a postdoctoral researcher in my group is currently working on her name is Anna Herrero and she is also an artist as well as being a high-perspectral imager and what we produce of course every day are lots of images so she's put together an initiative where she's going to print out large pictures of our images of research and bring them to a public park and she's going to bring a group of children to do art based on the images that we produce in the lab and then they can find out more information about the scientists and the images so I think the public engagement is really important there thank you mindful of the time if there is no further question at this moment I will close this press conference but not without thanking my panel for these wonderful insights into both your work but also your thinking around the importance of science in society thank you very much for being here today with us in the room and thank you all for watching thank you very much