Integrating Academia & Industry and creating the future together. On the afternoon of January 13th, the ZJU-UIUC Forum of the 2023 Annual Academic Conference at the International Campus, Zhejiang University was successfully held. This forum focuses on the forefront and practices of the engineering field, inviting 8 experts from the industry and academia to present a feast of thinking for the attending faculty members and students. Academician Lee Der-Horng, Dean of ZJUI, Prof. Ma Hao, Vice Dean of ZJUI, and Prof. Gehan Amaratunga, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, attended the event. Prof. Wang Hongwei, Vice Dean of ZJUI, presided over the event.

The forum was kicked off by Academician Lee Der-Horng, Dean of ZJUI. He deeply elaborated on the importance of industrialization for engineering disciplines and emphasized that ZJUI should actively respond to the top-level layout of Zhejiang Province's "Double 8 Strategy", leverage ZJUI's eight major advantages such as Regime advantage and location advantage, and inject new vitality into the industry through comprehensive, systematic, and in-depth measures. He emphasized that only by doing practical work can one be at the forefront. He hopes that the faculty members and students of ZJUI can continue to maintain an innovative spirit, constantly break through the academic frontier, and make greater contributions to the development of ZJUI and the progress of the industry. He also hopes that this academic forum can promote close cooperation between the institute and the industry, injecting new impetus into the development of the industry.

Prof. Wang Hongwei, Vice Dean of ZJUI, gave a comprehensive summary of the research achievements of ZJUI in 2023, and gave a detailed introduction to the institute's research volume, research platform construction, and international cooperation progress to the attending faculty members, students, and guests. He affirmed the achievements of ZJUI in 2023 and set new expectations for 2024.

This forum invites two industry experts to share their wonderful experiences. Prof. Yang Yongyao, Chief Scientist from SUPCON, presented a report titled " Smart Cities and Urban Intelligent Transportation Systems-Research and Practices from SUPCON", sharing SUPCON's solutions and practical application scenarios in the fields of smart cities, three-dimensional transportation, and comprehensive transportation. Prof. Chu Ning, Chief Researcher and Deputy Chief Engineer from Zhejiang Shangfeng Special Blower Industrial Co., Ltd., titled " Rotating Source Imaging for Fan Blade Noise Control", introduced how noise source localization technology can serve the condition monitoring and machine noise reduction of different types of industrial fans through actual fan noise reduction cases.

Subsequently, Assoc Prof. Ong Wee-Liat, Assist Prof. Yang Hao (Howard), and Assist Prof. Meng Xiangming from ZJUI shared their landmark research achievements in 2023. They provided a detailed introduction to the latest developments in areas such as abnormal heat transfer in perovskite, machine learning over-the-air, and generative artificial intelligence for on-site faculty members and students. These achievements demonstrate the innovative ability and academic level of ZJUI in the cutting-edge technology field.

In addition, the forum also invited newly recruited faculty members from ZJUI in 2023, Assoc Prof. Chen Piao, Assist Prof. Cheng Yushi, and Assist Prof. Yu Xinbo to give presentations. They presented their respective research results and future research plans, bringing new perspectives and academic inspiration to the on-site faculty members and students.

On this academic occasion, the “DECANS Scholarship” set by the Master's Program in Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health and the Best Poster Award ceremony were held. Xu Xiaobo, General Manager of Zhejiang DECANS Medical Devices Co., Ltd., presented honorary certificates to the students who received the Scholarship, in recognition of their outstanding performance and potential in the academic field. Prof. Ma Hao, Vice Dean of ZJUI, presented certificates of commendation to the students who received the Best Poster Award at the forum, to encourage their active participation and innovative contributions in academic exchanges.

The successful hosting of this academic forum will significantly promote in-depth communication and collaboration between ZJUI and the industry, open up new paths for the development of the engineering field, and inject innovative momentum. Looking ahead to the future, ZJUI is committed to contributing more outstanding strength to the growth of the institute and industrial progress through deep integration of industry and academia.