Every year, SUSTech brings together all its faculty and staff for a weekend of reports and exchanges focusing on scientific research. The one and a half day symposium started on October 27 and included the university council chairperson Guo Yurong, President Chen Shiyi, Chair Prof. Chen Xiaofei, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chair Prof. Yu Dapeng, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chair Prof. Gan Xiaohua, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chair Prof. Liu Ke, Executive Dean of the iCollege and Fellow of Australian Academy of Science, Chair Prof. Xu Zhenghe, Dean of the College of Engineering and Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and Long-term Distinguished Visiting Professor Liu Yunjie, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as SUSTech Vice-Chairperson of the University Council Li Fengliang, Vice-President Wu Chuanyue, and all the professors and researchers of the university, bringing the total attendance well above 300 people.
SUSTech Vice-President Tang Tao presided over the event.
SUSTech University Council Chairperson Guo Yurong gave an opening speech at the meeting, in which she highlighted the key objectives of the university in terms of scientific and technological innovation, including strengthening basic research and looking to achieve cutting-edge results to respond to the world’s needs. She said that SUSTech has made great progress in the last few years, rising from 55th to 30th in the Nature Index rankings in just 3 years, but also reminded everyone that there was still a long way to go to reach the same level as the world’s top institutes.
SUSTech’s Director of Scientific Research Zhao Yousheng then gave a talk in which he presented the general situation of research at the university. He made a detailed introduction on the research work done in 2017 from three aspects: scientific research, thinking and prospect.
Director of Major Projects Office Wang Susheng followed with a presentation on the progress of major projects in the university, then Liu Ke gave a talk on iCollege, which is an institute focusing on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Technical Transfer Center deputy director Zhang Zuotai gave a presentation on the status and future prospects of SUSTech’s research result application, Materials Characterization and Preparation Center director Cheng Xin presented the construction and management of shared scientific research platform and Xu Zhenghe gave a presentation on the College of Engineering and its development planning.
On the morning of October 28, the opening meeting was chaired by SUSTech President Chen Shiyi. During his opening speech, President Chen focused particularly on the importance of scientific and technological innovation in the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China. Shenzhen has the most developed high-tech industry and the highest per capita GDP in the country, making it an ideal location for scientific and technological innovation, which aims to become an engine for economic and social development in China. He reminded the audience that the Shenzhen Municipal Government and the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress have great expectations for SUSTech, especially relevant in the context of the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area zone, and that everyone at SUSTech should strive so that SUSTech will rise to the occasion.
Liang Yongsheng the followed with a keynote speech entitled “Under the new Shenzhen science and technology innovation policy and initiatives”. He introduced the policy and measures of Shenzhen’s research work and future ambitions, and said that in the future we need to strengthen our faith in research, continue pushing back the boundaries of our knowledge, and use this new knowledge to support industries.
Xia Wenli from Zhejiang University discussed how to best promote science and technology management in colleges and universities, and build an innovation-oriented institute from three aspects.
Three new research institutes inaugurated by the university leaders including Guo Yurong, Chen Shiyi, Tang Tao, Gan Xiaohua, Liu Yunjie and Yu Dapeng, were unveiled on the same day. The new institutes are the SUSTech Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, the SUSTech Institute for Future Networks and the Aerospace Propulsion Institute. Gan Xiaohua, Liu Yunjie and Yu Dapeng followed with presentations on the development of each one.
After the presentations, the audience was divided up into groups so as to exchange ideas on a range of topics including how to set research incentive mechanism for the characteristics of different disciplines, how to face the challenge of artificial intelligence and Chinese manufacturing by 2025, how to measure and evaluate professors and faculties, how to promote the international academic status of professors and cooperate with international high-level universities, how to find new ideas with humanities and social sciences research in science and engineering universities, how to encourage the cooperation between departments to carry out interdisciplinary research and the industrialization of scientific research results and how to attract high-quality scientific research personnel. These made up the 8 key topics of the discussions, and gave the chance to the professors to offer suggestions and ideas on how to develop their research work.
President Chen made a final concluding speech at the end of the event, in which he pointed out that the symposium had been very successful, and summed up what they had achieved. Following the spirit of the 19th Congress report, he highlighted once more the major role to be played by innovation and higher education, and that is was important to understand one’s strengths and weaknesses to be better prepared for the future. He said that he along with the rest of the university leaders will continue to work hard for the development of a strong research team, to provide adequate funding, improve the scientific evaluation mechanism, and hoped that everyone would continue to work together to push China’s higher education reform test ever further, with the goal of building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics.
