A three-day conference on ferroic materials was held in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

The meeting, which ended on Oct 27, was jointly hosted by Nature Research, an international academic journal, and the Frontier Institute of Science and Technology (FIST) of Xi'an Jiaotong University.

The meeting was chaired by Ren Xiaobing, a professor of FIST, Wei Fan, associate editor of Nature Communications, Giulia Pacchioni, senior editor of Nature Reviews Materials, and Giacomo Prando, associate editor of Nature Nanotechnology.

Around 20 scholars from top universities, laboratories and institutes shared their research and findings at the event.

"Ferroic materials are the core of many smart technologies, and are gaining importance in our smart age," Ren said.

He also added that FIST will continue working with the international ferroic community and contribute to the growth of the field.

Panel discussions were also held during which participants discussed how to transfer the research results into practical applications.

Besides, a poster exhibition, in which research papers were presented as posters, served as a communication platform.