Promote the high-quality development of scientific research and let the academic light illuminate the new journey of building a world-class university with China characteristics
Recently, the Chang ‘e V mission successfully achieved a soft landing on the moon again, which embodies the wisdom and hard work of countless scientific researchers, and also embodies the important scientific and technological contributions of the research team of space mapping, remote sensing and deep space exploration of Tongji University. This research team, which is composed of teachers of surveying and mapping, civil engineering, information, physics and other disciplines in our school, relies on the theoretical method of remote sensing spatial information reliability independently researched for many years to detect the obstacles of the moon stone and the moon pit with high reliability, thus helping Chang ‘e V to complete the difficult landing on the moon.
This is only a case in which Tongji University is escorting a major national engineering task with high-level scientific research achievements. In the past five years, our school has been facing the forefront of world science and technology, the main battlefield of economy, the major needs of the country, and people’s lives and health. With a series of large-scale and new measures, it has continued to promote scientific research in depth, and its basic research strength has been improved as a whole, and its scientific and technological independent innovation and social service capabilities have been significantly enhanced, showing a high-quality development trend. It is striving to provide strong support for the construction of a world-class university with China characteristics with first-class scientific research.
Standing at the new starting point of the closing of the 13th Five-Year Plan and the opening of the 14th Five-Year Plan, Tongji University will hold a scientific research conference from December 25th to 26th to jointly plan and promote the high-quality development of scientific research in the 14th Five-Year Plan. As a concrete action to study and implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, implement the development plan of scientific research and social services in the 14th Five-Year Plan, comprehensively improve the quality of Tongji University’s scientific and technological innovation, and accelerate the construction of "double first-class", Tongji University will issue 30 opinions on comprehensively improving the quality of scientific and technological innovation, and will systematically revise and formulate its scientific research management policies and support and incentive policies, so as to boost the high-quality development of scientific research in the 14th Five-Year Plan School to a new level.
Aim at the forefront of world science and technology and vigorously promote basic research
In the past five years, Tongji University has been granted a total of 2,580 national natural science funds, and the number of grants in 2020 increased by 11.8% compared with 2019, ranking among the top universities in China. He led 79 national key R&D projects and 233 projects, and was approved by the National Social Science Foundation for 15 major projects and the Ministry of Education for 4 major research projects on philosophy and social sciences, ranking among the top universities in China.
This set of data shows the overall strength of basic research in Tongji University from one side, and reflects the reform and exploration made by the school in actively innovating the system and mechanism of scientific research management and striving to improve the basic research ability of teachers in recent years, which has achieved initial results.
In recent years, under the guidance of the national innovation-driven development strategy, Tongji University has followed the law of scientific research, implemented "classified guidance, classified management and classified evaluation" on its science and technology, encouraged Tongji teachers to concentrate on learning, explore scientific truth, and do "stand on top of the world" scientific research. Basic research aims at the international academic frontier, and applied research is connected with the major national development strategy. On the basis of continuing to consolidate the characteristics of traditional engineering and improve the social service ability of Tongji people, the basic research ability of Tongji teachers is further improved through a series of new policies and measures, thus enhancing the overall academic strength of the school.
The school launched the "Basic Research Ability Enhancement Plan", and based on the principle of "free exploration, meeting needs and Tongji characteristics", selected and funded a group of young teachers with scientific research development potential to carry out "from 0 to 1" original research in the frontier and basic fields of science, especially encouraged to solve key technical problems in major engineering construction through collaboration and support technological innovation leading the development of emerging industries and new formats.
In the past five years, with the overall improvement of the scientific research strength of the school, a number of cutting-edge scientific research bases have settled in Tongji University. In 2018, Tongji University was approved to take the lead in building a major national science and technology infrastructure construction project-the National Submarine Science Observation Network; Tongji University’s Frontier Science Center for Cell Dryness and Fate Editing is one of the first seven frontier science centers approved by the Ministry of Education, focusing on major scientific issues of stem cell foundation and transformation. As an important part of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center, the Shanghai Autonomous Intelligence Unmanned System Science Center, built by Tongji University, was established to study and solve major frontier scientific problems of artificial intelligence and cultivate outstanding talents with basic research and cross-application ability of artificial intelligence, which is currently in short supply in China. In 2019, the "Intelligent Computing and Application" Mathematics Center of Tongji University was established, striving to seize the commanding heights of innovation in basic mathematics research; As one of the two national stem cell banks, the National Stem Cell Transformation Resource Bank was unveiled at Tongji University. During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the school added 33 national and provincial scientific research bases, among which the construction of liberal arts scientific research platforms and scientific research bases also made important progress. The school also concentrates on building a think tank system with the research direction of "city" and "Germany". This year, the Urban Development and Management Research Base was selected as the first batch of key think tanks in Shanghai.
In the past five years, a number of original achievements of world-advanced basic research have emerged by Tongji University scholars in the fields of urban construction and organic renewal, disaster prevention and mitigation, deep space exploration, deep sea exploration, transportation, environmental protection, precision manufacturing, information technology, new materials, biomedicine and so on, and the quantity and quality of the results have been continuously improved. Accumulated 27 national science and technology awards, including the first prize of science and technology progress award; As the lead unit, it won 40 first prizes of provincial and ministerial science and technology awards; As the lead unit, the school’s liberal arts won 44 scientific research awards at or above the provincial and ministerial level, including 9 outstanding achievements awards in scientific research in colleges and universities (humanities and social sciences), the highest award in humanities and social sciences, and the number of high-level achievements was among the highest in universities across the country. Great original achievements have been made in basic research in the fields of deep-sea process evolution in the South China Sea, ocean drilling, stem cells, tuberculosis prevention and control, and nearly 100 papers have been published in top international academic journals such as Nature and Science and their sub-journals. A group of outstanding scholars have won important international academic honors, or served as editors-in-chief of internationally renowned academic journals and heads of international academic organizations.
High-level scientific research and its achievements have become valuable educational and educational resources, directly supporting the training of high-level young talents. Just this month, Tongji University commended 20 teams that were awarded the first "Excellent Postgraduate Guidance Team Model" and "Excellent Postgraduate Guidance Team". All these teams not only have profound academic accumulation, but also perform well in postgraduate training such as postgraduate ideological guidance, academic research and innovative practice.
Serve the major strategic needs of the country and the region and carry out organized scientific research.
In a number of major national construction projects such as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Beijing Daxing International Airport, xiong’an new area and Beijing City Sub-center, bright "Tongji Elements" are jumping everywhere in the main battlefields such as poverty alleviation, rural revitalization, medical anti-epidemic, scientific and technological anti-epidemic, and the construction of a maritime power and a transportation power …
"The need of the motherland is the direction of my scientific research institute". In the past five years, Tongji people have been adhering to the fine tradition of "walking with the motherland and helping the world through science and education", with the mission of "giving up others", closely meeting the country’s major strategic needs, and the school has carried out efficient and organized scientific research, gathered large teams, built large platforms, undertaken large projects, and promoted great achievements, and actively served the country’s "emergency and danger". At the school level, we will strengthen the unified planning, organization, coordination and full chain management oriented by major projects, and carry out research on key core technologies in groups through multidisciplinary integration, so as to shed sweat and show our talents in the north and south of the motherland, providing direct and important scientific and technological support for a number of major national projects and major strategies.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is branded with a deep "Tongji Seal". A group of well-known professors from Tongji University have made great efforts in scientific research, which has provided important technical support during the critical period of the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Academician Sun Jun, who is over 90 years old, went deep into the bridge construction site for more than 30 times to solve problems for the bridge construction.
A strong scientific research team escorts the tallest building in Shanghai. Tongji University professors undertook the research task of key technologies in the design of Shanghai Tower, and dozens of well-known scholars from related disciplines of the school collectively held a general meeting to carry out scientific research on dozens of topics.
Facing the major decision-making and deployment of the CPC Central Committee to "set up xiong’an new area", Tongji University responded positively at the first time with a high sense of mission and responsibility, and gave full play to the advantages of architecture, planning, management, transportation and other disciplines, and established the Xiong ‘an Future City Research Institute of Tongji University to provide all-round support for the construction and development of the new district from the aspects of urban planning, construction, operation and management. Xiong’an new area Management Committee sent many thank-you letters to Tongji University.
In the past five years, Tongji University has also actively created an "upgraded version" of school-land and school-enterprise cooperation. Promote comprehensive strategic cooperation with Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Shanxi and other provinces; Join hands with well-known enterprises such as CRRC and China Electric Power Construction Group to carry out in-depth strategic cooperation in Industry-University-Research by jointly building innovation research centers and research institutes.
In 2017, Tongji University and Jiaxing Municipal Government jointly established the "Comprehensive Innovation Demonstration Zone for School-Land Cooperation"; In December 2018, based on years of teaching and research practice of beautiful countryside planning in Huangyan, Zhejiang Province, Tongji University and Huangyan jointly established the first "Rural Revitalization College" in China; This year, the school and Qingpu District have joined hands with universities in the Yangtze River Delta to establish the "Research Institute for Sustainable Development in the Yangtze River Delta" … With the deepening of the integration development in the Yangtze River Delta, Tongji University is closely following the urgent needs of industrial transformation and development in various parts of the region, closely combining Tongji’s disciplines, human resources and a number of new scientific and technological achievements, and constantly exploring new mechanisms and models for cooperation between schools and localities, and striving to make new contributions to the integration development in the Yangtze River Delta.
Let more outstanding scientific and technological achievements go out of the laboratory, transform and land for the benefit of the people. In the past five years, the school has innovated the transfer and transformation mode of achievements, and a number of outstanding scientific research achievements in physics, medical life, ocean and other disciplines have been successfully transformed, with a single maximum cash transfer amount of 38 million yuan. On December 22nd, the school released the "Top Ten Most Potential Scientific and Technological Achievements" in 2020. This year, the school technology transfer center was selected as the "Top 100 Technology Transfer Cases in the World in 2020"; The school was selected as the second batch of universities’ scientific and technological achievements transformation and technology transfer bases and the first batch of national intellectual property demonstration universities by the Ministry of Education.
Tongji University has been actively promoting the overflow of superior disciplines and scientific and educational resources outside the school. In the past five years, Tongji University has paid more attention to its surroundings, went deep into the old communities and alleys around the campus, studied the economic development and social governance needs of the surrounding areas, transformed the community format, turned the community into the source of innovation chain, and led the regional industrial transformation. The school and Siping Street Community in Yangpu District have joined hands to create a prototype street of NICE2035 future life, bringing innovative vitality to the old community. The annual output value of "knowledge economic circle around Tongji" increased from 32.7 billion yuan in 2016 to 46 billion yuan in 2019.
Empowered by artificial intelligence, scientific research in the new era presents a new picture.
In September this year, Tongji University and Shanghai Urban Operation Management Center jointly released seven artificial intelligence research results, involving autonomous intelligent unmanned system global fine sensing technology, high real-time one-screen centralized control digital twin management system, urban operation major risk prevention and emergency management system framework, etc., which added more help to urban operation fields such as epidemic prevention, emergency, facility operation and maintenance.
With the acceleration of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial revolution, Tongji University has given new kinetic energy to the development of traditional disciplines with artificial intelligence and enhanced the new connotation of traditional dominant disciplines. Since its establishment two years ago, Shanghai Autonomous Intelligent Unmanned System Science Center has made a series of important progress in the construction of talent team, serving national strategy and local needs, platform and discipline construction, and major scientific facilities, and has achieved a number of influential academic achievements, actively contributing to the international academic development of unmanned systems and the key technology research in China.
Empowering with artificial intelligence, multi-disciplinary cross-integration has been realized, and innovative achievements of teachers and students have come out one after another. This is a tiny bionic surgical robot with thrombolytic drugs. Under the command of an external magnetic field, it gathers at the thrombus site, generating heat and force field, and becomes an efficient microvascular thrombus scavenger. It is developed by the micro-nano unmanned system research team of Shanghai Independent Intelligent Unmanned System Science Center, which is based on Tongji University, through deep integration of medical science and joint research, and can be used for medical targeted microvascular thrombolysis. In May this year, this research achievement was published in the internationally renowned academic journal Advanced Materials.
Using artificial intelligence in medicine, Lanyisha, a 2020 undergraduate student in the School of Electronics and Information Engineering, transformed two-dimensional medical images into three-dimensional visualization graphics through programming, so that doctors and patients can see intuitive images of the heart and blood vessels on the computer. Empowering civil engineering with artificial intelligence, Ma Teng, a 2020 undergraduate of the School of Civil Engineering, independently developed a set of real-time monitoring system for cracks in bridge steel structure with his team, which can track the cracks in the bridge expansion period in real time, and won the first prize in the final of the "Challenge Cup" national extracurricular academic and scientific works competition for college students in 2019.
In August this year, the construction project of Shanghai Independent Intelligent Unmanned System Science Center started. The project is a major construction project of Shanghai 2020, located in the south area of Zhangjiang headquarters park. It will build an autonomous agent and multi-body integration research center for land, sea and air, a research center for next-generation devices and algorithms, and an unmanned system application technology research and development platform. After completion, it will accelerate the deep cross-integration of artificial intelligence-related disciplines and promote the construction of the science center into the most representative innovation center and talent cradle in the field of artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence will also be applied to the renovation and upgrading of Chifeng Road around the campus. The government, universities and enterprises will join hands to build Chifeng section of NICE2035 future life prototype street here. Driven by artificial intelligence empowerment and design innovation, a number of "future life prototype laboratories" integrating physical stores, laboratories, incubators and creative spaces will be built, and the physical operation and continuous iteration will be realized. While serving the citizens’ lives, the laboratory’s scientific research and innovation achievements will be transformed, and new scenes of community life will be reconstructed, so that generate, a knowledge economic circle around Tongji, will be more beautiful.
A new generation of artificial intelligence, intelligent construction, intelligent perception and remote sensing application, intelligent transportation and intelligent networking, intelligent city application, intelligent diagnosis and treatment, health protection, intelligent planning … Tongji people will continue to March into these frontier scientific and technological fields with a sense of urgency and mission, so that "artificial intelligence+"will bring a brand-new and beautiful picture for the school to carry out high-quality scientific research, and make Tongji people stand on their own feet in science and technology and build a socialist modern country in an all-round way. (Ai Jiao)