Between November 15 and 16, the 20^th Conference on Education Informatization Innovation and Development, hosted by the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), was held at the University’s Convention Center.

The conference focused on the in-depth implementation of the national education digitalization strategy, enriching the supply of digital education resources, building an education digital governance system, and discussing how to promote the digital transformation of education in the context of the new era and new technologies.

More than 1,000 experts and scholars in the field of education informatization, leaders of educational administration departments, directors of information centers of provincial education departments, presidents of universities, educators of information technology, and representatives of domestic and international enterprises participated in the event.

The conference was organized by the Chinese Journal of ICT in Education, and sponsored by the Engineering Research Center of Digital Learning and Educational Public Service of the Ministry of Education (MOE), the National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning, the Education Informatization Professional Committee of the China Society of Educational Development Strategy, and the Education Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality.

Leaders and scholars attending the opening ceremony included Hua SHU, Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology, and Informatization of the MOE; Jiancong LI, Director of the Education Management Information Center; Dehua ZENG, Deputy Director of Education Management Information Center of the MOE; Jin HAN, President of the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy; Chengyu QIU, Deputy Director of the Education Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality; and Yongping LU, President of Huawei China Government-Enterprise Education and Medical System Department.

The opening ceremony was presided over by Lianzhang TANG, Director of the Affairs Center of the Department of Education of Guangdong Province, and Ling ZHANG, University Council Vice-Chairperson of SUSTech, delivered a speech at the conference.

In his remarks, Ling ZHANG spoke about the innovative development of SUSTech, and used the University as an example of seizing the opportunity of digital transformation of higher education and improving the quality and efficiency of education in the process of building a world-class research university, and shared his thoughts on the digital strategy and governance of higher education.

In her keynote report, Hua SHU stressed that the extensive application of digital technology would greatly promote the sharing and collaboration of educational resources and improve the efficiency and coverage of educational services. Digital means will build a more flexible and personalized learning environment and provide students with a better learning experience.

The experts and scholars who participated in the main section of the conference included Dehua ZENG; Lianzhang TANG; Guoyin WANG, Vice President of the Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications; Zuotai ZHANG, Vice President of Shenzhen Polytechnic University; Huimin ZHANG, Director of the Information Center of the Education Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality; Jiahai YANG, Professor of Tsinghua University; Fati WU, Dean of the School of Educational Technology of Beijing Normal University; Jianhua ZHAO, Deputy Director of the Future Education Research Center of SUSTech; Baolin YI, Professor of the Department of Artificial Intelligence in Education of the Central China Normal University; Xinjun YU, Vice President of Zhongke Controllable Information Industry Co., Ltd.; Jinliang GUO, General Manager of the Educational Section of Huawei’s China Government-Enterprise Education and Medical System Department; Songwei LI, Member of the Technical Committee of the Advanced Technology Innovation and Industrialization Alliance of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Hui WANG, Researcher at the Department of Networked Intelligence of the Peng Cheng Laboratory.

In the themed session of the conference, more than 50 experts and scholars from across the country presented reports covering topics such as strategies and practices for digital transformation in universities, building an educational power and development strategy for educational digitalization, promoting the construction of a new regional smart education ecosystem, empowering primary and secondary education public management services through digital technology, and other areas.

Jianhua ZHAO also presented a keynote report at the conference and presided over the roundtable forum of the themed session.

The 20^th Education Informatization Application Achievements Exhibition was also held at the same time as the conference, attracting close to one hundred enterprises, universities, and educational institutions. It showcased the latest achievements and case reports in internet & education, smart campus, etc., and provided an opportunity for participants to interact.

This year marks the 20^th session of the Conference on Education Informatization Innovation and Development since 2000, becoming an annual event in the field of education informatization domestically and internationally.