A one-day forum themed Scientific Innovation and Smart Drive Lead the Future was held on Thursday in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Sponsored by People's Daily and the Chengdu municipal government, the forum aimed to build a platform for unicorns (typically privately held startups valued at $1 billion+) to promote themselves, communicate with each other and develop together.

It focused on the new generation of artificial intelligence, big data, 5G, chip design and manufacturing.

Representatives from government departments and nearly 100 unicorns from home and abroad discussed how to stress scientific innovation and let core technology lead the future.

The construction of the Unicorn Island of the Chengdu Tianfu New Area, the first unicorn gathering platform in China,started in July 2018, and the project will be completed in 2022.