The opening ceremony of ‘Belgium-China Joint Laboratory for Industrialized Construction’ was successfully held at the November 10, 2017, in Yifu Building of Tongji University. The laboratory is co-founded by Tongji University, Ghent University and Shanghai Construction Group, which is aim to explore creative industrialized construction methods by combining constructing, information technology and automatization.

The vice president of Tongji University, Gu Xianglin, and the consul of the Consulate General of Belgium in Shanghai, Marie-Adélaïde Matheï were invited to attend the ceremony. In addition, President Gu and consul Matheï gave important speeches and also expressed their sincere congratulations to the laboratory. As the core members of laboratory , Luc Taerwe (Academician of Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences), Zhao Xianzhong (Dean of College of Civil Engineering), , Jiang Huanjun (Vice dean of College of Civil Engineering), Xu Yonghe (Manager of Institute for Materials Science in Shanghai Construction Group), and Yuan Yong (Professor of the department of geotechnical engineering) were also invited to attend the ceremony. .