On December 23, the second conference of the first Academic Committee of Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems (hereinafter referred to as "the Research Institute") was held in Shanghai. The meeting heard a report on the progress and development of the Research Institute over the past year. The Research Institute has made notable results, with outstanding theoretical and technological achievements, efficient talent pool development and expanded international influence. At the meeting, the Frontier Science Center for Intelligent Autonomous Systems of the Ministry of Education established by drawing expertise from Tongji University was officially inaugurated.
Conference in progress
Participants at the site and online
Present at the meeting, both at the site and online, were CHEN Mingbo, Deputy Secretary General of Shanghai Municipal People's Government,JIANG Hong, First-Class Inspector of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, QIU Wenjin, Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, WANG Ye, Deputy Director of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, people from Science and Technology Innovation Center Development Office in Shanghai, FANG Shou'en, Secretary of the CPC Committee of Tongji University, CHEN Jie, President of Tongji University, GU Xianglin, Vice President of Tongji University along with over 20 academicians from Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering including Academician PAN Yunhe, and Academician SUN Youxian. TONG Xiaohua, Vice President of Tongji University, presided over the opening ceremony and the awarding ceremony.
CHEN Mingbo, on behalf of the Shanghai Municipal Government, expressed his heartfelt thanks to the Ministry of Education, Tongji University and all the academicians and experts for their long-term care and support to the development of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center with global influence, especially the development of artificial intelligence. He said that "the autonomous intelligent systems are the most critical field of artificial intelligence, which are closely linked to major national strategy and the development of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center." Since the Research Institute was established three years ago, it has made continuous progress in the fields of talent team development, scientific and technological innovation, talent cultivation and discipline development, infrastructure development and international cooperation, etc. Shanghai Municipal Government will fully support the development of the Research Institute and intensive support will be given to strengthen resource security, accelerate breakthroughs in key areas, support algorithms, and speed up the introduction and cultivation of innovative talents, etc., so as to elevate the innovation capacity of the Research Institute and the development of highland for Shanghai Artificial Intelligence to a new level.
CHEN Mingbo delivering a speech
FANG Shou'en said that: "Since Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems was established by drawing expertise from Tongji University three years ago, with the care and guidance of the leaders from Shanghai Municipal Government, the great attention and support from academicians and experts as well as the relevant Commissions and Bureaus of Shanghai Municipality, all the work has been carried out as planned and made important progress." As a supporting unit of the Research Institute, Tongji University will follow the major strategic deployment of the CPC Central Committee and Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, with more enthusiasm, a more open attitude and a more inclusive ecological force, we shall pool resources and forge synergy, initiatively serve major national strategies and local economic & social development, actively build national strategic science and technology force, strive to speed up the development of the Research Institute into the world's top artificial intelligence research institute, and help Shanghai to become a Science and Technology Innovation Center and Talent Highland with global influence.
FANG Shou'en delivering a speech
Later, the Frontier Science Center for Intelligent Autonomous Systems of the Ministry of Education was jointly unveiled by CHEN Mingbo, JIANG Hong, FANG Shou'en and CHEN Jie. LEI Chaozi, Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Informatization, Ministry of Education, sent a Congratulatory Letter, expressing the hope that "Tongji University, on the platform of frontier science center, will further serve major strategic needs of the nation, and strengthen organized innovation so as to make significant strategic contributions."
The Frontier Science Center for Intelligent Autonomous Systems of the Ministry of Education jointly unveiled by JIANG Hong, CHEN Mingbo, FANG Shou'en and CHEN Jie
The Frontier Science Center of the Ministry of Education is a scientific and technological innovation base that carries out forward-looking, strategic and frontier basic research guided by the frontier scientific issues. By drawing expertise from Tongji University, the Frontier Science Center for Intelligent Autonomous Systems of the Ministry of Education is composed of core forces of fundamental research on autonomous systems in Tongji University, which will follow the idea of "consolidating the foundation, breaking through the bottlenecks and leading the way", take enhancement of China's core competitiveness in the field of autonomous systems research as the goal, look into the international frontier development of artificial intelligence research, focus on basic scientific issues of artificial intelligence, and bottlenecks in key technology and learning paradigms, so as to strive for original breakthroughs in scientific theories and core technologies in key areas of strength, promote the transformation of research results of autonomous systems into industrial applications, and improve the overall theoretical and technical level of artificial intelligence in China.
CHEN Mingbo awarded a Letter of Appointment to Academician JIANG Changjun and Academician ZHU Hehua, new members of the Academic Committee of the Research Institute. At present, the first Academic Committee of Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems is composed of 29 well-known experts in the field of artificial intelligence both at home and abroad. Among them, there are 28 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences &Chinese Academy of Engineering and foreign academicians. Academician PAN Yunhe has served as the Chairman, Academician SUN Youxian, Academician GUO Lei and Academician YAO Qizhi have served as vice chairmen. The Academic Committee will guide and review the scientific management and development strategies (including the research direction, development goals, main tasks and major decisions, etc.) of the Research institute, promote the scientific research development of the Research Institute and increase its global influence.
After the appointment ceremony, the second conference of the first Academic Committee of the Research Institute was held, which was presided over by Academician PAN Yunhe, Chairman of the Academic Committee.
CHEN Jie, President of Tongji University, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of the Research Institute, comprehensively reported the progress of the Research Institute in the past year from the aspects of the main research direction, research progress, platform development, representative academic achievements, team development, discipline development, talent cultivation, openness & cooperation and operation management, etc., and introduced the work plan of the Research Institute next year from the aspects of platform development, scientific and technological innovation, team development, talent cultivation and open topics. The Research Institute has studied the mechanism of artificial synaptic devices with ultra-low energy consumption, proposed the distributed learning method of non-cooperative game, and formed the spatio-temporal data aggregation theory of unmanned system network perception, etc. enhanced by block chain, thus having a wide influence both at home and abroad. The artificial intelligence co-driving test technology, multi-agent cooperative control technology, and autonomous drawing technology in complicated environment, etc. have been developed, and autonomous navigation and cooperation technologies of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been applied in large-scale infrastructure.
CHEN Jie, President of Tongji University, delivering a speech
Members of the Academic Committee had a full discussion on the work of the Research Institute in the past year and its future development plan. It is agreed that the Research Institute aims at the frontier of artificial intelligence science and carries out scientific research around autonomous intelligent systems. Its three key scientific issues and nine research directions are systematic, forward-looking and urgent, which are the highlands that need to be conquered urgently by the frontier basic theory and key technology of artificial intelligence. Over the past year, the Research Institute has carried out in-depth research on the key and core technology and achieved satisfactory results. The Research Institute has made important progress in the construction of experimental conditions, the implementation of major and key projects, the peak discipline of intelligent science and technology, the development of doctoral program, etc.; The Research Institute has made breakthroughs in infrastructure construction, made outstanding theoretical and technological achievements, and achieved remarkable results in introducing and cultivating high-end talents, thus greatly increasing its international influence. The academicians and experts have also put forward constructive opinions and suggestions on promoting the development of major scientific and technological infrastructure.
In the past year, with the strong support from academicians, experts and Shanghai Municipal Government, the Research Institute has made new progress and achievements in all aspects of its work. Major progress has been made in the construction of experimental conditions, and it has built seven test platforms such as the unmanned system for all-sensing multi-body collaboration test field and the like. Tongji University has taken the lead in undertaking the first Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project of Artificial Intelligence; and has been approved to establish the Basic Science Center for Intelligent Autonomous Systems by National Natural Science Foundation of China as the chief scientists. A number of important stage achievements have been made: a large number of high-level journal papers published have formed a wide range of influence both at home and abroad; a number of new technologies have been developed and applied in related industries; it has applied for many national invention patents and international patents. China (Shanghai) Digital City Research Institute, Key Laboratory of Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems, and Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence Social Governance have been built by relying on Tongji University. They have been approved to build national Intelligent social governance experimental comprehensive bases together with Yangpu District.
The Research Institute has also made gratifying achievements in talent team development, discipline development, talent cultivation, etc. Through introduction and cultivation, a high-level research team has been built. By relying on the Research Institute, we have joined forces with four universities in Shanghai to take the lead in constructing the peak discipline of "Intelligent Science and Technology" in Shanghai, and carried out research on the frontier basic theories and key technologies of artificial intelligence and cross-innovative talent training. This year, we received the second round of continuous funding. Upon approval by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, Tongji University has been approved to establish a doctoral program in the interdisciplinary disciplines of intelligent science and technology. Tongji University has launched the doctoral program of Intelligent Science and Technology since 2019, and three sessions of nearly 400 artificial intelligence doctoral students from different disciplines have received intensive training in Zhangjiang Artificial Intelligence Island (known as "AIsland"). The Summer School for the Analysis and Design of 2021 Complex Intelligent System was held by the Research Institute last summer, and more than 60 offline students from nearly 20 universities and research institutes across the country participated in the training. As the chief editor, the Research Institute has founded two international journals in China to promote international academic exchanges and cooperation. Zhangwu Forum has been held for several times, and a demonstration project of interdisciplinary joint research on artificial intelligence has been set up, giving an impulse to interdisciplinary research in artificial intelligence in the university. The Research Institute has also made innovations in management system and developed a culture of "acting in a down-to-earth way to pursue excellence and lead innovation". A special report on the achievements of the Research Institute was published on Nature recently.
Text/News Center and Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems
Photo/JIANG Ping
Video/WU Yixiang and SONG Yuxing
https://news.tongji.edu.cn/info/1003/79691.htm
