On October 12-15, the 7th International Conference of Bionic Engineering & the International Youth Conference of Bionic Science and Engineering 2023 (ICBE & IYCBSE 2023) was successfully held in Wuhan, China. The conference is hosted by the ISBE, and jointly organized by Wuhan University, Hubei University, and Jilin University. The related leaders from National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Education, Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province, Wuhan Science and Technology Bureau, Wuhan University, Hubei University, and Jilin University were invited to attend the conference.

Prof. Thomas Stegmaier, the President of ISBE gave an opening address online expressing warm welcome and sincere gratitude to all the participants. Academician Luquan Ren, the Standing Vice-President of ISBE, Academician Xi Zhang, the President of Jilin University, Prof. Qizhu Tang, the Vice-President of Wuhan University, Prof. Jianping Liu, President of Hubei University, and Director Jinju Wang from Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province attended and addressed the opening ceremony. Prof. Zhihui Zhang, the General Secretary of ISBE also delivered the work report of the Society at the conference. The opening ceremony was co-chaired by Prof. Zhihui Zhang and Prof. Longjian Xue from Wuhan University as the executive chairs of the conference. 

The ICBE & IYCBSE 2023 is one of the highest-level grand gatherings in the field of bionics with the theme of “human, nature, harmony”. The conference was held in an online/offline hybrid mode which is geared towards exploring new ideas and accomplishments for the practice of bio-inspired design and manufacture, while offering innovative solutions for human life. During the three-day conference, over 700 experts, scholars, and industry representatives from 23 countries including 11 Chinese and foreign academicians, more than 50 national high-level talents gathered at ICBE & IYCBSE 2023. The conference brought over 400 academic presentations through 2 main venues and 9 parallel sessions, including 11 plenaries, 65 keynotes, 113 invited presentations, 154 oral presentations, and 128 posters.

The conference specially invited 11 world-renowned scientists to present thoughtful plenary talks on the cutting-edge of bionic technology, including academician Stanislav Gorb from Kiel University, academician Lei Jiang from Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of CAS, academician Shuhong Yu from University of Science and Technology of China, academician Huajian Gao from Brown University, academician Peter Fratzl from Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, academician Xiaodong Chen from Nanyang Technological University, Prof. Zuankai Wang from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Prof. Sheng Liu from Wuhan University, Prof. Zhiwu Han and Prof. Lei Ren from Jilin University, and Prof. Ali Dhinojwala from The University of Akron, which has aroused widespread interests and discussions.

During the conference, the board meeting of ISBE, the editorial board meeting of Journal of Bionic Engineering, the ISBE Youth Committee meeting and the ISBE Enterprise Committee meeting were held in parallel. Most importantly, the Education Committee, another new branch of the ISBE was formally established at ICBE & IYCBSE 2023. In addition, the conference specially set up a "PhD special session" to stimulate the research interests of graduates. Dr. Muxian Shen, deputy editor of Advanced Functional Materials and Advanced Materials Technologies, was invited to share methods and skills for publishing with Wiley, which received enthusiastic feedback from the attendees.

The ISBE new Executive Board from 2023-2026 were elected at the board meeting. Prof. Thomas Stegmaier from ITV Denkendorf, Germany was elected President, Prof. Lei Ren from Jilin University was elected Standing Vice-President, Prof. Chris D. Rudd from James Cook University Singapore and Prof. Marc Weissburg from Georgia Institute of Technology were elected Vice-Presidents. Prof. Zhihui Zhang from Jilin University was appointed as the General Secretary. At the conference, Prof. Luquan Ren was granted the lifetime contribution award as the Emeritus President of the ISBE due to his outstanding dedication and leadership to the society. Prof. Jianqiao Li was also granted the lifetime contribution award as the founding General Secretary of the ISBE. 

The award ceremony of the conference is presided over by Prof. Zhiguang Guo from Hubei University. The event comprised three sessions including ISBE Fellowship Conferment Ceremony, Bionic Engineering Award Ceremony, and Bionic Innovation Competition Ceremony. In 2022, Bharat Bhushan, Daniel Weihs, He Liu, Deyuan Zhang and Lei Ren have been newly elected as ISBE fellows. Mohd Sapuan Salit and Zhendong Dai have won Outstanding Contribution Award. Sheng Xu and Xu Hou were the winners of Outstanding Youth Award, while Outstanding Student Award went to Ming Li and Yanlong Shao. In addition, 28 students in total from China, UK, USA, South Korea, India, etc. have respectively won the first prize, second prize, third prize, and finalist prize of the competition.

On October 15th, the conference presented a series of representative achievements, including Biomimetic Education Foundation, ISO/TC 266 Biomimetics, Journal of Bionic Engineering, Droplet, and Advanced Bionics. At the closing ceremony, 30 presenters in total have been respectively awarded Best Oral Presentation Award and Best Poster Award, which greatly encouraged the research enthusiasm of young scholars and students.

The ICBE & IYCBSE 2023 has presented the latest research achievements in bionics focusing on biological systems, bioinspired functional structures and surfaces, biomaterials and bioinspired materials, biofabrication and bioinspired manufacturing, intelligent bionics, nature inspired energy system, bionic healthcare engineering, etc., providing a good communication platform for participants. The conference will thus greatly promote the international cooperation and discipline development of bionics worldwide.

With the strong support of all members and the leadership of the new board, the ISBE is believed will enter a new stage of development.