On April 28^th, the unveiling ceremony for the Development and Application Laboratory of Low Carbon and High-Performance Automobile Steel (hereinafter referred to as "the Laboratory"), jointly built by USTB, the Shougang Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Shougang Group"), and the Beijing Automotive Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "BAIC Group"), was held at Techart Plaza, USTB. Mr. ZHAO Minge, General Manager of Shougang Group, Mr. ZHU Qijian, Director of Department of Strategic Development, Shougang Group; Mr. GONG Yueqiong, Deputy General Manager of BAIC group, Mr. SONG Wei, Director of Technology and Product Management Department, BAIC Group; Prof. YANG Renshu, President of USTB, Prof. XIE Jianxin and Prof. MAO Xinping, members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, attended the conference. Prof. LIU Xuefeng, Director of the Department of Science and Technology, USTB, presided over the meeting.

President YANG Renshu made a welcome speech

Prof. YANG Renshu, on behalf of USTB, extended his warm welcome to the visit of Shougang Group and BAIC Group. He pointed out that signing the contract to build the Laboratory is the response to The Spirit of President XI Jinping's Important Reply to Senior Professors at USTB. He hoped that USTB, Shougang Group, and BAIC Group, based on the existing cooperation and taking the establishment of the laboratory as the opportunity, create a nationally well-known and industry-leading integrated scientific research innovation and application platform. This platform will develop high-performance steel and be the place where efficient research and development, preparation of low carbon, together with innovative applications, are combined together.

Mr. ZHAO Minge, GM of the Shougang Group gave a speech

Mr. ZHAO Minge said that promoting the efficient innovation and industrial application of low carbon and high-performance automobile steel is of great significance to the high-quality development of the steel-automobile industrial chain and is the proactive response of the three entities to boost the collaborative innovation of industries, universities, and research institutes. Thus four expectations were put forward for the Laboratory research and management team: to strengthen the construction of the Laboratory, to build a high-level joint innovative platform, to integrate into the national scientific and technological innovation system, and to foster the cultivation of scientific research talents.

Mr. GONG Yueqiong, Deputy General Manager of the BAIC Group gave a speech

Mr. GONG Yueqiong introduced the development of the BAIC Group. He hoped that the three entities, taking the establishment of the Laboratory as an opportunity, broaden the collaborative innovation between industries, universities, and research institutes in the following fields: materials genome engineering and its application in automobile steel design; the development and industrialized production of new low carbon materials; and the innovative applications of the automobile industry, to make breakthroughs on automobile carbon emission research in both the material-development side and the material-application side. He believed that with the help of the Laboratory, excellent talents and high-quality projects will be gathered together, realizing the expected results of the projects, and cultivating a group of outstanding research and development talents for enterprise science and technology.

Prof. MAO Xinping gave a speech

Prof. MAO Xinping introduced the Laboratory and said that the Laboratory, by taking the research on low carbon steel for automobiles as the core and scientific projects as the bond, will implement the talent cultivation program through postgraduate and graduate education and training, on-the-job career training, and personnel exchange, to fully follow the low carbon developmental strategy of CPCCC and Beijing.

The signing and the unveiling ceremony

At the ceremony, on behalf of USTB, Shougang Group, and BAIC Group respectively, Prof. MAO Xinping, Mr. ZHU Guosen, and Mr. WANG Lei signed the strategic cooperation agreement. Prof. YANG Renshu, Mr. ZHAO Minge, Mr. GONG Yueqiong, and Prof. XIE Jianxin unveiled the Laboratory.

The cooperation agreement is the specific response of USTB to the request of “promoting innovative, green, and low carbon development of the iron and steel industry” in The Spirit of President XI Jinping's Important Reply to Senior Professors at USTB. At the same time, it is also an important initiative of the university facing the national call for “carbon peak and neutrality goals”, and the call from the Center for Science & Technology Innovation Beijing to develop high-tech industries. USTB, giving full play to the unique advantages of the cooperation between colleges and businesses, will deepen the integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial development.

Heads and representatives of relevant units from the Shougang Group, the BAIC Group, USTB Department of Science and Technology, Department of Technology Transfer, and Innovation Research Institute for Carbon Neutrality have attended the signing ceremony.

Draft: ZENG Bingjie

Revision: CHENG Mingyuan