Based on 180 Years of Innovation, ZEISS Future Industry Innovation Summit Builds a New Ecosystem of “Harmony and Win-Win Cooperation”

• ZEISS celebrates its 180th anniversary, coinciding historically with the start of China’s “15th Five-Year Plan.” As the inaugural event of its 180th-anniversary themed series, the “ZEISS Future Industry Innovation Summit” was held in Shanghai.
• The summit brought together representatives from government, industry, academia, and research institutions, focusing on two industrial frontiers: advanced manufacturing and future health. In-depth dialogues were conducted on the deep integration of technological innovation and industry, sharing innovative insights and jointly outlining a new blueprint for technological innovation-driven development and future industries during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period.
• The concurrently unveiled ZEISS 180 & beyond themed exhibition presents a panoramic view of ZEISS’s innovation journey from the industrial age, through the information age, to the intelligent age, and underscores ZEISS’s firm commitment to expanding the frontiers of innovation alongside local partners.

ShanghaiMay 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As a global leader in optics and optoelectronics, ZEISS has consistently leveraged innovation to deepen its roots in China. At the historic intersection of the company’s 180th anniversary and the launch of China’s “15th Five-Year Plan,” the ZEISS Future Industry Innovation Summit was held in Shanghai, officially kicking off the 180th-anniversary themed series. Under the theme “Pioneering New Horizons, Winning Together through Harmony,” the summit gathered representatives from government, industry, academia, and research to explore new pathways for high-quality development within China’s modernization process. The specially curated ZEISS 180 & beyond themed exhibition showcased ZEISS’s 180-year innovation legacy and localization practices, vividly illustrating its long-term vision of building a “win-win through harmony” industrial ecosystem.

In his opening remarks, Martin Fischer, President and CEO of ZEISS Greater China, stated that since its founding, ZEISS has continuously pushed the boundaries of imagination through its unwavering commitment to innovation. Celebrating this milestone today is not only about honoring history but also about looking forward to the next 180 years. The year 2026 marks the start of China’s “15th Five-Year Plan.” China is not only ZEISS’s largest single market globally but also a crucial source of innovation. ZEISS has always been in sync with China’s high-quality economic development, and this Future Industry Innovation Summit is a vivid practice of its innovative spirit and commitment to co-building an ecosystem. He expressed hope that today’s dialogues would inspire cross-sector collaboration and jointly chart a new chapter for future industrial development.

In his keynote speech titled “Charting the ’15th Five-Year Plan’: Technological Innovation Driving Force and Future Industry Development,” Zhu Guangyao, former Vice Minister of Finance of China, deeply interpreted the strategic deployment of technological innovation in the “15th Five-Year Plan.” He pointed out that the driving force of technological innovation is the core of future industrial competition, requiring synergy among enterprises, universities, and research institutes. He expressed hope that multinational corporations would continue to be deep cooperation partners in China’s high-quality development.

Synergy of Technology and Scenarios Empowering Manufacturing Upgrades

The first roundtable dialogue, themed “Synergy of Technology and Scenarios Empowering Manufacturing Upgrades,” was opened by Xie Lei, Chief Operating Officer of ZEISS Greater China. He noted that the “15th Five-Year Plan” focuses on new tracks such as future manufacturing and future health, where future manufacturing will be driven by both technology and scenarios, empowering industrial transformation and upgrading. As a leader in precision optics, ZEISS has witnessed and participated in multiple rounds of industrial change over 180 years and is willing to help the industry transition from “quantitative accumulation” to “qualitative leap.” In China, ZEISS not only introduces high-end technology but also deeply invests in local R&D innovation, rooting technology and products in local application scenarios to build an efficient and collaborative industrial ecosystem.

From the policy end to the research end, and then to industrial practice and talent cultivation, the four guests outlined a clear path for manufacturing transformation. Wei Liurong, Chief Engineer of the Policy and Economics Research Institute, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, pointed out that manufacturing localization has entered a new “co-creation” stage, where the deep integration of 5G and industrial internet is driving digital transformation from peripheral support to a core production engine. Fan Guohua, Professor at Nanjing Tech University and Chairman of Weikuang Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., emphasized that basic research is the source of innovation, and materials research provides the “from 0 to 1” foundational support for advanced manufacturing. He advocated becoming an “early participant” in this process and briefly shared the supporting role of precision inspection equipment in process improvement. On the industrial practice front, Shi Zhe, Chief Digital Officer of Foxconn Group and Chairman of UERXIN, took the over 20-year deep cooperation with ZEISS as an example, sharing how ZEISS’s high-precision imaging technology enabled fully automatic judgment of micron-level defects and promoted the co-evolution of “AI + optical inspection.” He stated that ZEISS has evolved from an optical equipment supplier to a technology enabler and standard co-builder, jointly driving manufacturing from experience-driven to intelligence-driven. Zhang Xiangchao, Professor at Fudan University and Deputy Director of Shanghai Ultra-Precision Optical Manufacturing Engineering Center, added that his research focuses on multi-sensor intelligent fusion, online and in-situ detection, and performance improvement of instruments and equipment, using advanced detection technology to empower manufacturing transformation and upgrading.

Integrated Innovation Empowering Future Health

Personalization and precision are becoming core directions for the future health industry, with the deep integration of digitalization and intelligence providing key driving forces. In the second roundtable dialogue, moderated by Li Zengxin, Deputy General Manager of Caixin International and Director of the International Business Department of Caixin Think Tank, guests engaged in in-depth discussions on the connection between optical technology and life sciences, clinical medicine, and industrial applications from perspectives such as macro trends, industrial practice, and ecosystem building.

Feng Lan, Vice President of the China Pharmaceutical Innovation and Research Development Association, pointed out that the core of pharmaceutical innovation lies in building an ecosystem where multiple entities collaborate and co-cultivate. Efficient collaboration in technology sharing and clinical translation is key to driving China from a major pharmaceutical country to a strong one. Peng Zuofu, CEO of Akoya Biosciences (Beijing) Co., Ltd., stated that the transition of precision medicine from concept to practice requires deep coupling and collaborative efforts across the industry chain. Using the RIMA spatial biology solution jointly launched with ZEISS as an example, he noted that leveraging ZEISS’s top-tier optical technology, the RIMA solution overcomes the dilemma of “seeing but not understanding, detecting but not integrating.” The complementary advantages of both parties accelerate the entire innovation chain, truly achieving “win-win through harmony.” Liu Lei, Executive Vice Dean of the Institute of Intelligent Medicine, Fudan University, emphasized that intelligent medicine uses massive data and AI to help identify disease targets, but the foundation for technology implementation lies in cultivating composite talents who “understand medicine, data, and engineering.”

The guests collectively agreed that building a “rainforest-style” innovation ecosystem requires leading enterprises to open platforms, share data, and co-establish standards. Utilizing spatial multi-omics technology to draw a “panoramic map” of human diseases is becoming an industrial frontier leading precision diagnostics toward “global insight.”

To honor its 180-year development journey, ZEISS simultaneously unveiled the 180 & beyond permanent themed exhibition, telling a story of “seeing” through four narrative chapters: starting from the workshop of founder Carl Zeiss and co-founder Ernst Abbe in Jena, traversing the life codes under microscopes, the vast seas of stars in telescopes, and the digital waves in optical components, all the way to future frontiers like electric mobility and medical robots. Among them, the “Shining into the Future” chapter vividly presents ZEISS’s deep cultivation and commitment in the Chinese market. Leveraging the two major economic belts of the Yangtze River Delta and the Greater Bay Area, ZEISS continuously promotes localized innovation, allowing globally leading optical technology to find the most precise application scenarios in China, and jointly expanding the frontiers of innovation with local partners. Carrying 180 years of profound heritage, ZEISS will challenge the limits of imagination together with all innovators, giving rise to infinite possibilities.

Based on 180 years of innovation heritage and looking to the future, “Pioneering New Horizons” requires technological leadership to break boundaries with core capabilities; “Winning Together through Harmony” requires ecosystem co-building to connect value with an open mind. Standing at a new starting point, ZEISS will continue to walk side by side with Chinese partners, jointly building an open and innovative full-chain optical technology ecosystem, effectively promoting the construction of a new ecosystem, and shaping a brighter, healthier, and more sustainable future.