On September 20, 2022 local time, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister WANG Yi chaired the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI) held in New York. At the meeting, the Chinese side released the Report on Big Earth Data in Support of the Sustainable Development Goals (2022), which covers 42 typical research cases focusing on seven SDGs and involving 31 sets of data products, 21 method models and 33 decision support information.

The 2022 International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (FBAS 2022) was open on September 6, 2022 in Beijing, China. The three-day event is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and hosted by the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS) and the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of CAS.

During the Third Conference on Remote Sensing of Vegetation Pests and Diseases held online on August 27, the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) released an upgraded version of vegetation pest and disease remote sensing monitoring and risk forecasting system, which can provide monitoring and forecasting products and reports at global, continental, and local scales.

Scientists and experts from countries along the Belt and Road joined together for a two-day online workshop recently, to discuss the advancement of cotton research and industry as well as the promotion of international cooperation. Supported by the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS) and Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO), the workshop, held from August 19 to 20, drew more than 300 participants from China, Uzbekistan, Brazil, and Türkiye.

The Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) announced its winners of 2022 Global 5 Under 35 Award on August 10. Prof. WANG Yu, specially appointed from State Key Laboratory of Fire Science of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), is among the list. He is the first young scholar from universities of Chinese mainland who won the award since its establishment.

CHENG Lijing, professor of Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was recognized with the Fofonoff Early Career Award from the American Meteorological Society (AMS) "for high quality, impactful research on ocean observations and application to ocean heat content, and for service to the community". The award will be presented in January 2023, in conjunction with the society’s 103rd annual meeting in Denver, Colorado.

China's laser equipment development for space debris detection as well as Thomson scattering diagnostic of plasma has achieved progress, thanks to the recent advances in nanosecond laser technology.

On July 18, China's Earth Science Satellite called Guangmu, or SDGSAT-1, after 6-month on-orbit testing phase, was officially delivered to the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS), marking the start of its on-orbit scientific services.

China's first large space telescope Xuntian is almost complete, according to scientists working on the project. The telescope is scheduled for launch at the end of 2023, and is expected to start operation in 2024.

On July 7, 2022, Prof. GUO Huadong, director of the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the auspices of UNESCO, and Dr. Bruno Oberle, Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) through a virtual ceremony to advance collaboration on applying space technologies to monitor, conserve and protect natural World Heritage sites. This joint work will support the implementation of the World Heritage Convention for its 50th anniversary in 2022.

On July 4, 2022, the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Beijing through an online event with the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) of Nigeria to boost collaboration on crop monitoring with the goal to help the country achieve Zero Hunger goal, which is among 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) described by the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

China will need better science education at an early age, optimizing the evaluation and appraisal process for such people, providing more opportunities for career mobility and progression, and more investment in research and development from the public and private sectors. The term human resources in science and technology refers to people who have completed their higher education, but also those who are employed in sci-tech related occupations without holding an academic degree. The size, structure and efficiency of a country's human resources in science and technology is a key indicator of the nation's innovative capability and potential.