Jointly organized by the Bureau of International Cooperation, the Department of Engineering and Materials Sciences, and the Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences of NSFC, the panel meeting for A3 Foresight Program for the year 2008 was held in Hangzhou on May 28-30, 2008. The related staff from these three departments of NSFC attended the meeting.

Initiated by NSFC, JSPS and KOSEF, A3 Foresight Program is a major cooperative program among the science communities in China, Japan and Korea. The research field for the program this year is advanced materials, and the applications mainly came from the Department of Engineering and Materials Sciences and the Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. Proposals from the Department of Engineering and Materials Sciences account for two thirds of the total.