On September 1, a delegation led by GU Minghua, Director of the Zhenjiang Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, visited Harbin Engineering University (HEU) for a special industry-university-research matchmaking symposium. CHEN Hailong, Assistant to the President of HEU, chaired the meeting.
CHEN Hailong extended a warm welcome to GU Minghua and his delegation. He noted that Zhenjiang’s pillar industries—particularly marine equipment and new materials—are highly aligned with HEU’s core strengths in naval architecture and ocean engineering. He expressed the hope that both sides would leverage joint talent cultivation and co-established laboratories to streamline the entire pathway for technology commercialisation, fostering two-way empowerment and coordinated progress. Such efforts, he added, would deepen the integration of industrial and educational chains and contribute to high-quality regional economic development.
GU Minghua highly commended HEU’s series of innovative achievements in the shipbuilding and marine engineering sectors. He pointed out that Zhenjiang boasts prominent industrial agglomeration advantages in marine equipment, aerospace, new materials, and the digital economy, with local enterprises facing pressing technical demands in areas such as new material process optimisation, ship propulsion iteration, and intelligent operational equipment R&D. He called for the establishment of a long-term communication mechanism, leveraging various science and technology innovation competitions and commercialisation platforms to strengthen joint industry-university research. This would channel HEU’s high-quality innovative resources into Zhenjiang, accelerate the industrial application of more research outcomes, and foster a mutually beneficial pattern of resource complementarity between the university and the municipality.
During the symposium, the head of HEU’s Yangtze River Delta Research Institute presented a work plan for implementing the bilateral strategic cooperation agreement, outlining phased progress in joint industry-university research, technology transfer, and collaborative talent development. Relevant research teams subsequently presented cutting-edge technological advances, including underwater operational equipment, lightweight structural materials, industrial intelligent inspection, and intelligent ship data processing. Participating enterprises, in turn, articulated their specific technical challenges based on actual industrial needs. Attendees engaged in in-depth discussions on joint technological problem-solving, commercialisation of research outcomes, and collaborative education of industry-university talent.
