The 11th G20 Summit was held in Hangzhou, China on September 4th to 5th, 2016 with the theme of “Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy”. For the first time the Summit prioritized “Breaking a new path for Growth” as a key topic, and laid out the G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth. At the 2016 First G20 Sherpa Meeting, all delegates agreed to set up task forces to discuss and advance innovation-related topics.

Under the leadership of the Chinese Chair with the support from Co-Chairs from South Korea and the U.K. and active participation of all members, the G20 Innovation Task Force drafted the 2016 G20 Innovation Action Plan based on thorough deliberations. The Action Plan, one of the important accomplishments of the Summit, has been ratified by the G20 leaders, and its key points are included in the G20 Leaders’ Communiqué and the G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth. The Action Plan put forward five guiding principles and eight concrete actions in the course of embracing dialogues and cooperation on innovation, and is of great significance to enable innovation to play its role in unleashing the medium-long-term growth potential of the world economy, sustaining growth momentum, strengthening cooperation of science, technology and innovation within the G20 and addressing common challenges.

In order to put into practice the G20 Leaders’ Communiqué, the G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth and the Innovation Action Plan, China presidency is to host a G20 Science, Technology and Innovation Ministers Meeting in Beijing on November 3rd to 5th, 2016. The Meeting focuses on the theme of “Breaking a New Path for Growth”, and four major topics - policies and practices of innovation-driven development; innovation and entrepreneurship; priority fields and models of G20 cooperation in science, technology and innovation; exchanges and cooperation of R&D personnel.