The 2023 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Forum on Traditional Medicine kicked off on Wednesday in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, and is expected to bring more opportunities to the growth of TCM.

Under the theme "Heritage, Innovation, Unity and Collaboration for the High-Quality Development of Traditional Medicine Industry", the three-day event has attracted more than 500 Chinese and foreign experts, scholars and entrepreneurs from the medical industry.

They will discuss various topics such as the heritage and innovation of traditional medicine and the promotion of high-quality development in the traditional medicine industry.

The event is an opportunity to explore more experiences for the development of TCM, according to the organizing committee of Ganjiang New Area in Jiangxi province, where the forum is being held.

The new area has laid foundations for driving TCM into a high-quality growth direction, especially after it built the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Innovation City, which has attracted numerous industrial projects and high-end scientific research talent since its construction in 2019.

One of the notable institutions in the city is the Ganjiang Chinese Medicine Innovation Center, co-established by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ganzhou New District Management Committee. With more than 200 employees, the center aims to tackle key scientific issues in traditional medicine, providing support for research and technological development in the industry.

Research results should not only stay in the laboratory but should be practically translated into economic value, according to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Innovation City.

By strengthening cooperation with research institutions, the center aims to promote technological innovation and application in the TCM industry, it added.

Chen Jianbin, vice-president of Shulei Biotechnology, said that the innovation city has a cooperative and win-win environment with good government services for enterprises and abundant human resources.

Jiangxi is known for its age-old history of traditional Chinese medicine and a robust basis for the development of TCM. For instance, Zhangshu in the province is known as the "Pharmaceutical Capital of China" and is renowned for its Chinese medicine industry.

Last year, Jiangxi achieved a comprehensive output value of more than 15 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) from medicinal material planting, with a business income of 41.7 billion yuan generated by over 150 large-scale Chinese medicine enterprises.