Focus on Hydrogen Energy and Biomedicine: Jing-Jin-Ji Solicits Specialized Needs

Reprinted from: Beijing Youth Daily

This newspaper report (by reporter Lei Jia) states that the Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation Committee recently began soliciting collaboration project guidelines for 2026 from Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. The focus is on key industries (fields) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, mainly including fundamental scientific issues in the “Six Chains and Five Clusters” within hydrogen energy and biomedicine.

In 2015, Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei jointly established the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Basic Research Cooperation Project, which was renamed the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Natural Science Foundation Cooperation Project starting in 2025. Its goal is to address common fundamental scientific problems of great significance and urgent need for collaboration in the industries of the three regions, promote interdisciplinary and multi-region cooperation, and support the construction of the Beijing (Tianjin-Hebei) International Science and Technology Innovation Center, continuously enhancing the global competitiveness of the region in basic research.

This year’s guideline requests should focus on the hydrogen energy and biomedicine fields within the “Six Chains and Five Clusters” of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. The hydrogen energy field emphasizes fundamental scientific issues related to hydrogen production, storage and transportation, refueling, and utilization; the biomedicine field emphasizes fundamental scientific issues in cell and gene therapy, brain-computer interfaces, organoids and organ chips, innovative drugs, and biomedical engineering.

The guideline requirements emphasize scientific rigor, focusing on common fundamental scientific problems in the industries of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. They should be precise, distinctive, and reflect the characteristics of basic research, avoiding purely technological applications. The requirements should be inclusive and directional, without obvious restrictive elements, facilitating joint applications by project leaders from all three regions and promoting complementary advantages. Additionally, safety must be prioritized, with strict adherence to national laws, regulations, and ethical standards. Attention should be paid to preventing biosafety, information security, and other technological security risks, following research ethics, and avoiding confidential content.

For 2026, the funding limit for each project under the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Basic Research Cooperation Project is 600,000 RMB, with a duration of three years. Each applicant from the three regions can submit up to one guideline proposal. The deadline is March 23 at 12:00 PM.

Editor: Han Baolin (EN087)