Dr. Ming-Wei Wang (Director of the National Center for Drug Screening/Chinese National Compound Library and Dean of School of Pharmacy, Fudan University) attended the International Bioart Festival Forum held in Gwacheon City (Korea) and was invited to deliver a congratulatory address (see below) at the opening ceremony on November 2, 2019. During the event, he interacted with Mr. Jongcheon Kim (Mayor of Gwacheon City), Dr. Woo II Lee (President-elect, Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies), Professor Sunghoon Kim (Seoul National University) and several artists from Switzerland, England, Taiwan (China) and Korea. Dr. Wang also participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony for 2019 Bioart Contest Award Exhibition.

Congratulatory Address
Ming-Wei Wang

Mr. Jongcheon Kim, Dr. Woo Il Lee, invited guests, ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to express my warm congratulations to Gwacheon City and the respected City Mayor, Mr. Jongcheon Kim, for hosting the 7th International Bioart Festival.

I am honored and pleased to be a part of this memorable event. For the last twenty or so years, Professor Sunghoon Kim, the Director of Biocon and I, as Director of the National Center for Drug Screening, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, have kept our friendship and shared our common interest not only in science but also in art and culture. Therefore, I give my full respect to Biocon’s efforts in organizing exhibitions on the subject of Bioart for the last several years while leading the world-class bioscience research.

Nowadays, science cannot be separated from art and society. Particularly, bioscience is directly related to human healthcare and many sensitive social issues. Thus, it is crucial to establish a platform through which scientists can communicate with society and culture. In this regard, I have a strong belief that this festival has provided a melting pot from which many creative and collaborative projects can be generated among bioscientists and artists. The continuation of this festival would eventually contribute to the development of healthcare and society welfare. Again, I would like to give my sincere appreciation to Gwacheon City and Biocon for the kind invitation and wish that I could contribute to future collaboration between Gwacheon City and Shanghai. Thank you very much.