The 6th COMAC International Science and Technology Innovation Week opened at the Jiaxing Base of COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China) on March 27th, 2023. The week-long event on the theme of "Digital Aircraft Empowering Industry" was organized by Tongji University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and sponsored by COMAC.
More than 500 experts and scholars from the government, universities, enterprises, research institutes, industry associations, and other organizations participated in the Week. Various activities were organized including young talent sessions, featured seminars, integration of production and education sessions, and contract signing ceremonies for enhanced integration of education, research, and production by promoting education development, scientific and technological innovation, and coordinated talent cultivation, and establishing innovation chains, industrial chains and talent chains.
HE Dongfeng, Party Secretary and Chairman of COMAC, ZHENG Qinghua, President of Tongji University, and ZHAO Ruheng, Vice President of Hong Kong Polytechnic University attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.
According to HE Dongfeng, the 6th COMAC International Science and Technology Week focused on cutting-edge technology and digital reform to promote the synergy of the digital aircraft industry and the ecological development of education, research and production. This was not only in line with the technical trend but also corresponded to the reality of large aircraft. To meet the challenge from the new round of scientific and technological revolution represented by information technology and energy technology, we had to rely on talents, scientific and technological innovation, and integration of education and industry to build an innovation chain of "science, technology, and engineering" for large aircraft. The event would help people exchange ideas, inspire wisdom and join hands in building an innovative cooperation ecosystem with a wider scope, in a wider field, and at a higher level.
HE Dongfeng delivering a speech
ZHENG Qinghua remarked that Tongji University and COMAC had a firm foundation for cooperation. In recent years, Tongji University and COMAC have made progress in the fields of artificial intelligence, composite materials, aviation wind tunnel, and intellectual property rights. In the future, Tongji University will continue to give full play to its own advantages and work with COMAC to integrate teaching and research with major national strategies to make greater contributions to the development of the large aircraft industry, high-quality talents cultivation in the emerging industries for national strategies, and the scientific and technological innovation and industrial development.
ZHENG Qinghua making an opening remark
ZHAO Ruheng hoped that the International Science and Technology Innovation Week provided an opportunity for participants to join hands in exploring cooperation in major fields such as artificial intelligence, big data, and new materials by making full use of their respective advantages, injecting new impetus for the development of civil aviation and its related fields, and promoting scientific and technological innovation and industrial development.
ZHAO Ruheng speaks at the opening ceremony
Tongji University and COMAC signed a cooperation agreement on talent cultivation at the opening ceremony. TAN Wangeng, vice party secretary and director of COMAC, and TONG Xiaohua, vice president of Tongji University, signed the agreement on behalf of both parties. According to the agreement, the two sides will produce top young talents for large aircraft by setting up a big aircraft class to cultivate talents to meet the urgent needs of large aircraft based on Tongji University's Strengthening Basic Discipline Plan and its academic characteristics. A Large Aircraft Education and Production Alliance and a joint training base for graduate students will be established to accelerate the cultivation of strategic scientific and technological talents and build a channel for cultivating talents for specific purposes.
Signing the agreement
Professor YANG Shuxing, dean of the School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics of Tongji University, and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering gave a keynote speech entitled "Design and Manufacture of Advanced Composite Structures".
YANG Shuxing making a keynote speech
In the afternoon, the inaugural meeting of the Large Aircraft Education and Production Alliance was held. The Alliance will build a communication platform for educating industrial talents, sharing production and education resources including innovation achievements, and training industrial talents such as outstanding engineers of large aircrafts, thus forming a talent pool for scientific and technological innovation of large aircrafts. TONG Xiaohua, Vice President, speaks on behalf of the participating colleges and universities
Pose to mark the event
The 6th COMAC International Science and Technology Innovation Week focused on such topics as aviation big data, digital twins, artificial intelligence, and other topics, and held special sessions for advanced materials, integration of education and production, and young talents. Participants had discussions and exchange of ideas on the integration and innovation of science and technology and industrial empowerment of the digital large aircraft industry for the purpose of "exploring basic science as well as cutting-edge science and technology, solving difficult problems, and promoting innovation cooperation", and promoting the industrial synergy of digital aircraft and the ecological construction of production, education and research.
As an important part of this week-long event, "Walking into Tongji" was organized at Jiading Campus on March 30th. This activity was a new attempt at two-way interaction between universities and enterprises, which provided an immersed scene for talent exchange, scientific and technological exchange, and cultural exchange for the integration of education and production. More than 100 participants at the Week attended the award ceremony of the First "Tongfei Cup" Composite Structure Intelligent Technology Innovation Competition, visited the hardware-in-the-loop testing platform for intelligent driving, the intelligent automobile test and evaluation base, the aeroacoustic wind tunnel half-model aerodynamic test of large aircraft, Tongji University Science and Technology Achievements Exhibition, and Digital Animation 3D Works Exhibition, and experienced the high-speed maglev test line in addition to the campus culture.
