The IYCBSE 2021 organized by the ISBE was successfully held online on July 17-18, 2021. The conference was jointly hosted by City University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, CAS, Hubei University and Jilin University. There were over 400 delegates attending the conference, and the online video viewers exceeded 10,000 visits.

Academician Prof. Wei Guo, the President of City University of Hong Kong, Academician Prof. Luquan Ren, the Standing Vice-President of the ISBE, Prof. Hairong Zheng, Vice-President of Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, CAS and Dr. Peter Merker from China-Germany Economic and Cultural Exchange Association had been invited to deliver welcome speeches at the opening ceremony, which was co-chaired by Prof. Zuankai Wang from City University of Hong Kong, and Prof. Xuemin Du from Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, CAS. 

The conference was honored to have Academician Prof. Zhigang Suo from Harvard University, Academician Prof. Zhenan Bao from Stanford University, Academician Prof. Han Ding from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Academician Prof. Lei Jiang from Beihang University, Academician Prof. Shuhong Yu from University of Science and Technology of China, Academician Prof. Jian Lu from City University of Hong Kong and Prof. David Quéré from Ecole Polytechnique presenting plenary speeches. The topics are mainly focused on interfacial and transport phenomena, nature-inspired structural and functional materials, nature-inspired robots and flexible electronics, nature-inspired energy system, and bionic implants. 

During the conference, Prof. Lei Ren from the University of Manchester, Prof. Liqiu Wang from the University of Hong Kong and other 20 senior specialists, as well as more than 80 outstanding young scholars had given keynote and invited presentations in the four parallel sessions. In particular, the Youth Forum of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area had aroused heated discussions among the representatives from United Kingdom, Denmark, and China.
At the closing ceremony, 3 best oral presentation awards and 3 best poster awards were announced. 6 students respectively from Tsinghua University, Sun Yat-Sen University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, CAS won the awards. 

The IYCBSE 2021 had witnessed the rapid development of bionics in recent years, and presented high-level research achievements in the field. It not only provided an unforgettable international academic feast for bionic researchers, but also laid a solid foundation for future exchanges, cooperation and collaborative innovation. It is believed that the intense collision of ideas at the conference will lead a new upsurge of research in bionics around the world.