On the morning of January 14, the opening ceremony of the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute & the Artificial Intelligence Summit Forum were convened at Southeast University. Pan Yunhe, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Zhao Qinping, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Li Shigui, Standing Committee of Nanjing Municipal Committee and Secretary of Jiangning District Party Committee, Jiang Yuejian, Vice Mayor of Nanjing City, Zhou Zhihua, Chairman of Jiangsu Artificial Intelligence Society and Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence of Nanjing University, Zhang Guangjun, President of Southeast University, Vice Presidents Wu Gang and Zhou Youyong, Rui Yong, Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Lenovo Group, etc. attended the unveiling ceremony. Relevant principals of brother universities and cooperating enterprises, responsible comrades and representatives of teachers and students from relevant departments, schools and colleges of the school also attended the unveiling ceremony, which was presided over by Vice President Wu Gang.
President Zhang Guangjun addressed the ceremony on behalf of the school and expressed his welcome and gratitude to the distinguished academicians, leaders and guests. He briefly introduced the background and national strategy in terms of artificial intelligence, reviewed various construction affairs as conducted for the establishment of the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Artificial Intelligence Institute in the early stage as well as the development orientation of the school and the research institute. He pointed out that the development of the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Research Institute would represent the strategic direction and major demands of the country. It must aim at international frontiers, serve the national strategy, strive to build the first-class faculty to cultivate top talents and produce top-ranking scientific and technological achievements in core, key and basic fields. To this end, President Zhang put forward three expectations for the future construction and development of the School and the Research Institute: firstly, it is necessary to further strengthen the level of serving national strategies. Well running the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Research Institute at Southeast University shall not only conform to the internal demands of disciplinary development, but also undertake the mission of serving national strategies. The School and the Research Institute should fundamentally adhere to the spirit of the important speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping on the development of a new generation of artificial intelligence and accelerate the development of the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Research Institute to be world-class institute with Chinese characteristics so as to serve national strategies in respect of artificial intelligence with practical actions. Secondly, efforts shall be devoted to further strengthening the training of leading talents. While integrating high-quality resources inside and outside the school, we must plan and design a sufficiently competitive system, assessment mechanism and incentive mechanism that introduce leading talents both at home and abroad with overwhelming strategies. At the same time, it is necessary to implement the cultivation mechanism of innovative talents by establishing an integrated talent training system covering undergraduate, graduate and doctorate students, focus on cultivating the leading talents highlighting the sense of patriotism and the international perspective, and who can lead the future and benefit human beings. Thirdly, efforts shall be made to further intensify the integration of production, education and research. It is imperative to access the “No-man’s Land” at the forefront of artificial intelligence technology by virtue of national-level big projects, mega-platform, great teams and significant achievements so as to realizecornerovertaking in specific fields. At the same time, it is vital to unit with leading enterprises and create proper opportunities based on the knowledge innovation circle of Southeast University at Jiangning District so as to form a sound ecological chain of talent cultivation, technological innovation, industrial development and resource sharing, deepen the integration of production, education and research, and thus promote the leaping forward development of artificial intelligence. Finally, President Zhang expected to construct a first-class School of Artificial Intelligence and the Research Institute with joint efforts of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing City and Jiangning District; meanwhile, we could work out an unique path highlighting collaborative development among artificial intelligence, talent cultivation and integration of production, education and research so as to make leading and model historical contributions to the construction of a great country by artificial intelligence, the construction of new-type Jiangsu Province and a renowned innovative Nanjing City.
Vice Mayor Jiang Yuejian, in his speech, expressed his congratulations on the unveiling of the School and the Research Institute, recognized the long-term achievements made by Southeast University in terms of school running, and extended his appreciations for the support and assistance provided by Southeast University to the economic and social development of Nanjing City as well as the construction of an innovative city. Jiang Yuejian introduced the definite positioning of Nanjing City in creating an internationally influential highland regarding artificial intelligence industry innovation, and confirmed the “three major priorities”. Specifically speaking, in terms of the industrial base, attentions would focus on chips, sensors, big data, cloud computing and biometrics, etc. to further form the advantages of research and development, strengthen the construction of relevant disciplines and cultivation of high-level talents, and thus establish the basic support for the research and development of artificial intelligence; in terms of key technology, further researches would be carried out on such key technologies as machine deep learning, computer vision, speech and language processing, etc. so as to consolidate the technical foundation; in terms of application, efforts would be made to promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence with traditional industries, newly-emerging industries and social fields so as to lead the industrial upgrading and social transformation & development. In the future, a pattern of artificial intelligence industry development highlighting “two centers, three districts and one demonstration” shall be formed in this city. He expected that in the future, the integrated development with Southeast University could be further intensified and a new-type research and development institution of artificial intelligence could be established to strengthen basic researches, implement key technology research projects, endeavor to make breakthroughs in such key generic technologies as basic theory, core algorithm, sensor chip and system integration, etc., achieve breakthroughs in technology, nurture new driving forces for economic and social development in our city, and accelerate the construction of a powerful, prosperous, beautiful and high-tech new Nanjing City.
Chairman Zhou Zhihua, in his speech, said that the unveiling of the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Research Institute of Southeast University shall conform to the demands of the new era when the entire world was confronted with the bottleneck of shortage of artificial intelligence talents. It also manifested the major measures adopted by a higher education institution to make high-level contributions to the development of artificial intelligent cause in China. He believed that Southeast University would take the opportunity of the establishment of the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Research Institute to continue to play the leading role and achieve breakthroughs in terms of basic theory and key technologies as soon as possible, and thus make greater achievements in talent cultivation and scientific researches on artificial intelligence. He said that the School of Artificial Intelligence of Nanjing University would work together with the School of Artificial Intelligence of Southeast University to start from the source, cultivate high-level talents in this regard for the country, the society and the industry, and make greater contributions to the development of artificial intelligence industry.
At the ceremony, Vice President Zhou Youyong announced the decision on establishing the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute as well as the appointment of the leading team. President Zhang Guangjun issued the certificate to Dean Rui Yong. Subsequently, Dean Rui Yong introduced the preparations and the development planning of the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute.
Dean Rui Yong said that after the establishment of the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute of Southeast University, the researches would cover the whole industry chain including the basic theory, the support system and the innovation application. The basic theoretical research includes machine learning and data mining, pattern recognition and intelligent control, knowledge engineering and multi-agent, complex system and network science, etc..; thesupport systems include perceptual intelligence, man-machine coordination to enhance intelligence, intelligent chip and hardware; and the innovation applications include intelligent equipment and manufacturing system, smart city, human-machine collaborative diagnosis and treatment, etc.. In terms of talent cultivation, in order to actively respond to national strategies in artificial intelligence, the School would focus on core science and key technologies in the field of artificial intelligence, aim at the frontiers of international disciplines and thedemands of social development so as to gradually realize deep integration of scientific research, education and industry, and thus form the educational and scientific research system for the cultivation of innovative and technical talents. At the same time, he personally would also actively play the role of tie and bridge to further promote the cooperation between the university and Lenovo Group, and assist Southeast University in developing the School of Artificial Intelligence to a world-class talent cultivation and technological innovation base and the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute to a first-rate artificial intelligence research institute with international influence.
Academician Zhao Qinping and Secretary Li Shigui jointly unveiled the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute. Academician Pan Yunhe and President Zhang Guangjun jointly unveiled the School of Artificial Intelligence.
Subsequently, Southeast University and Lenovo Research Institute signed the “Cooperation Agreement on Establishment of A Joint Laboratory of Computer Vision and Augmented Reality between Southeast University - Lenovo Research Institute”, the “Agreement on Establishment of ‘Lenovo Research Institute Scholarship’ with the Donation Made by Lenovo (Beijing) Co., Ltd. to Southeast University”, the “Cooperation Agreement on Establishment of the Big Data Center at Southeast University”. As stipulated, both parties shall establish a “Joint Laboratory of Computer Vision and Augmented Reality” and the “Big Data Center” at Southeast University to jointly cultivate talents and conduct researches on advanced technologies such as computer vision and augmented reality by combining their respective expertise and resource advantages. At the same time, Lenovo Research Institute also established the “Lenovo Research Institute Scholarship” to encourage students of the School of Artificial Intelligence of Southeast University and thus promote the cultivation of innovative talents. Previously, Southeast University and Lenovo Group have signed a “Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement on Artificial Intelligence in June 2018”. As stipulated, both parties agreed to cooperate to incubate and accumulate technology-based enterprises to support the transformation and upgrading of local industries and thus achieve mutual benefit and common development.
After the ceremony, the Artificial Intelligence Summit Form was opened. At the forum, Academician Pan Yunhe delivered an academic report on the topic of “Artificial Intelligence 2.0 and Its Technical Clues”; Academician Zhao Qinping delivered a theme report on “Improving IQ of the Computer System”; Dr. Rui Yong addressed the theme report on “Artificial Intelligence from One to Five”. Experts and scholars present at the conference conducted a symposium on the construction and development of the artificial intelligence discipline.
In recent years, Southeast University, by closely focusing on the demands of national strategies and international academic frontiers, seizing opportunities, making coordinated planning and collaborative innovation, has vigorously developed such basic, cutting-edge and inter-disciplines as quantum information, cyberspace security, intelligent manufacturing, smart cities, and brain science and artificial intelligence, and finally established a number of inter-disciplinary and innovative superior carriers in the process its “double first-class” construction. At the same time, the university accelerated its layout planning to promote the establishment of the School of Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, which was announced in 2018. Famous alumnus Dr. Rui Yong was invited to serve as the Dean of the School and the Research Institute. Based on the School of Computer Science and Engineering, with the cooperation with the School of Automation, the School of Mathematics, the School of Mechanical Engineering, the School of Information, the College of Instrument Science and Engineering, the School of Electrical Engineering and the School of Energy and Environment, etc., advantageous scientific research teams and scientific research resources including Yangtze River scholars, young Yangtze River scholars, excellent youth and outstanding youth, etc. concentrated at Southeast University to form the “first-class members” of the School of Artificial Intelligence and the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute.
In terms of talent cultivation, the School of Artificial Intelligence aims at the cultivation of comprehensive leading talents to develop the School of Artificial Intelligence of Southeast University to a world-class talent cultivation and technology innovation base. The system will cultivate multi-level comprehensive leading talents in artificial intelligence, create a unified research and innovation platform, establish a systematic and cross-integrated talent cultivation program, actively carry out substantive cooperation with world-class universities, deepen its overall cooperation with Lenovo, Huawei and other renowned AI enterprises both at home and abroad so as to promote the rapid development of the School of Artificial Intelligence.
In the interdisciplinary research and the transformation of achievements, the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute will carry out work in the aspects of basic theory research on artificial intelligence, common technology and core algorithm research, artificial intelligence industry cooperation promotion and construction of artificial intelligence talent team. The Research Institute, with relevant national policies and planning as the guideline, aims at five new characteristics of artificial intelligence 2.0, combines the research directions of Southeast University's own advantages and focuses on promoting cross-disciplinary integration so as to form a multi-disciplinary innovation platform supported by artificial intelligence and based on basic theories and innovation applications. On this basis, the institute will undertake major national scientific research assignments, obtain significant scientific research achievements and cultivate top research talents so as to form typical application demonstrations.
