On May 16, 2026, the re-election ceremony of the Southern University of Science and Technology Alumni Enterprise Alliance and the Alumni Sci-Tech Innovation Forum were both held at the Dacheng Auditorium of the College of Business. Ling ZHANG, University Council Vice-Chairperson of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Xiaoxiong YAO, Chairman of Shenzhen Angel Investment Association and former Chairman of Shenzhen Angel FoF Management Co., Ltd., and others attended the event.

In his speech, Ling ZHANG stated that in order to build a distinctive innovation and entrepreneurship education system at SUSTech, the university has established an Entrepreneurship College, relying on the “integration of the four types of innovation” development concept to continuously strengthen support for alumni entrepreneurship. Through diversified measures such as special fund investment and empowering with high-quality industry resources, SUSTech comprehensively assists the growth and development of alumni enterprises. Currently, the number of university graduates has exceeded 12,000, and more than 50 alumni entrepreneurial enterprises have been incubated, with hard-tech companies becoming a distinctive feature of SUSTech alumni innovation and entrepreneurship. To further facilitate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, SUSTech is actively connecting with organizations such as the Qianhai Cooperation Zone to provide alumni tech enterprises with entrepreneurial development platforms and one-stop entrepreneurship support services. Amid the current surge in the artificial intelligence industry, alumni tech enterprises have broad growth potential and development opportunities. SUSTech will continue to improve its innovation and entrepreneurship education system, deeply cultivate tech empowerment, and help a wide range of alumni enterprises achieve high-quality development. 

Mingwei CHEN, Dean of the College of Engineering, stated that the College of Engineering has always regarded innovation and entrepreneurship as core elements of schooling, adhering to equal emphasis on basic research and industrial application, continuously empowering faculty, students, and alumni in innovation and entrepreneurship, supporting the construction of SUSTech’s innovation and entrepreneurship education system, and providing solid technical resources and platform support for faculty, students, and alumni entrepreneurship.

The meeting also held the re-election ceremony of the Alumni Enterprise Alliance and the appointment ceremony for entrepreneurial mentors. Ling ZHANG presented the appointment letter and the alliance flag to the new heads of the Alumni Enterprise Alliance, and issued the appointment letter of entrepreneurial mentor of the SUSTech Alumni Enterprise Alliance to Xiaoxiong YAO.

“Leading Sci-Tech Innovation, Investing in the Future” keynote speech session featured Xiaoxiong YAO, along with Yang PAN, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Energy Engineering at SUSTech and Founder & Chief Scientist of Shenzhen Nanke Jia’an Robot Technology Co., Ltd.; Shibo ZHANG, Research Assistant Professor at SUSTech, Partner and Deputy General Manager of Shenzhen Maifei Precision Co., Ltd., and 2023 PhD alumnus; Dawei WANG, General Manager of Sirui Additive (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd., and 2023 PhD alumnus of SUSTech. They delivered wonderful presentations titled “Practice and Reflections on Angel Investment in Shenzhen,” “New Paradigm of Flexible Manufacturing with Force Control AI Robots,” “Application of Power Ultrasound Technology in Precision Processing, Medical Devices, and Consumer Products,” and “Green Recycled Materials and Advanced Manufacturing,” respectively. Offering new ideas and valuable suggestions for sci-tech investment support, transformation of scientific and technological achievements, university-enterprise resource collaboration, and innovative development of alumni enterprises.

The roundtable discussion, themed “Innovation in Science and Technology for New Growth Together,” featured in-depth dialogues on topics such as industry-university-research collaborative innovation and technology transfer. Participants included Ruijun TIAN, Director of the Technology Transfer Center and Chair Professor of the Department of Chemistry as well as the Department of Statistics and Data Science at SUSTech; Jialiang LU, General Manager of the Administration Department, Investment Director, and scholar in technology management, and an alumnus of SUSTech, from Shenzhen Oriental Fortune Capital Co., Ltd.; Jiyong TAN, Associate Researcher at the Advanced Research Institute of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (Shenzhen), Director of the Guangdong Medical Rehabilitation Intelligent System Engineering Technology Research Center, and a 2023 SUSTech PhD alumnus; and Fei YUAN, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Guangdong Shumi Technology Co., Ltd., and a 2023 SUSTech PhD student. They explored topics including industry-university-research collaborative innovation and the commercialization of technological achievements.

The event was jointly organized by the SUSTech Alumni Association and the College of Engineering, with co-sponsorship from the SUSTech Education Foundation, the Technology Transfer Center, and the Office of Student Affairs. It aimed to gather high-quality alumni resources, deepen the integration of university, enterprise, and research, and support the growth of young SUSTech innovators, contributing strong momentum to SUSTech’s innovation and entrepreneurship endeavors.