On August 13^th, the Metallurgical Corporation of China Limited (MCC) Baosteel Technology Services Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “MCC Baosteel”) held the 2022 Annual Science and Technology Innovation Conference both online and offline. The Conference was presided over by Mr. LIU Xin, General Manager of MCC Baosteel. Mr. QU Yang, Vice President of China MCC, Mr. WANG Zhenzhi, Chancellor of MCC Baosteel, and other leaders of MCC Baosteel, attended the Conference on-site. Prof. ZHANG Weidong, Vice President of USTB, and staff representatives of the USTB Technical Support Base for Prevention and Control of Major Accidents in Metal Smelting (hereinafter referred to as “the Metal Smelting Base”) attended the Conference online. At the Conference, the signing ceremony of the strategic cooperation on “Digital Transformation” between MCC Baosteel and USTB was held.

The cloud signing ceremony of the strategic cooperation agreement

Prof. ZHANG Weidong and Mr. WANG Zhenzhi signed the “Digital Transformation” strategic cooperation agreement on behalf of USTB and MCC Baosteel, respectively, in the form of “cloud signing.”

Prof. ZHANG Weidong delivered a speech

After the signing ceremony, Prof. ZHANG Weidong said in his speech that USTB would continue to take the spirit of President XI Jinping's reply to the senior professor of USTB as guidance and carry forward the spirit of rigorous governance and willingness. USTB would continue serving the major strategic needs, especially in serving the innovation and transformation of the iron and steel industry, cultivating more high-level expert talents, and pursuing high-quality scientific research achievements. He pointed out that USTB had maintained a close cooperative relationship with MCC Baosteel for a long time and had cooperated in a number of cooperation projects. This strategic cooperation enabled the university and the enterprise to complement each other's advantages. The two parties could join forces to realize the integration of industry and education and to promote the organic connection and deep integration of the talent chain, innovation chain, and industrial chain.

Finally, Prof. ZHANG Weidong put forward three expectations of the strategic cooperation of “Digital Transformation” between the two sides. First, the two sides should adhere to demand-oriented cooperation and give full play to the synergistic advantages of university and enterprise. They should further expand the direction of collaboration around the international frontier and the major needs of enterprises to promote the two sides to cooperate in key core technologies, new procedures, new product development, and other aspects and produce more results as early as possible. The second is to strengthen organized scientific research to vigorously promote the integration of “projects and talents.” The two sides should give full play to both advantages to realize the open sharing of resources and talents and enhance the capabilities of original innovation and integrated innovation to jointly build a national strategic scientific and technological force in the field of intelligent operation and maintenance of metallurgical equipment. The third is to deepen the collaborative innovation of the university and the enterprise to help MCC Baosteel build a world-class enterprise. Prof. ZHANG Weidong hoped that while the scientific achievements of the university were converted into enterprises, the outstanding talents of USTB could also be accurately transferred to enterprises to realize the sustainable development of win-win cooperation between the university and the enterprise. In this way, the two parties could jointly contribute to building China into a country with a strong iron and steel industry.

Mr. WANG Zhenzhi delivered a speech

Mr. WANG Zhenzhi pointed out that MCC Baosteel would accelerate exchanges and cooperation with USTB and other universities to create a first-class innovation ecology. Adhering to the combination of “bringing in” and “going out” of talents, MCC Baosteel would explore establishing a mechanism for sharing innovative resources and innovation returns. Besides, MCC Baosteel would form a scientific and technological innovation alliance with universities to create collaborative innovation and improve innovation results to develop the world’s first national metallurgical construction and operation team with practical actions.

Mr. QU Yang delivered a speech

Mr. QU Yang stressed that it was necessary to seize the current opportunity of the integration of informatization, networking, and intellectualization. Upholding the concept of mutual support and win-win results, the MCC Baosteel would form a cooperative integration pattern with USTB to promote the green and low-carbon development of metallurgical operation services and improve its intelligence and efficiency to play a leading and exemplary role in the industry.

At the meeting, MCC Baosteel issued external expert certificates to Mr. YANG Jianhong, Deputy Director of the Metal Smelting Base, and other experts. Besides, MCC Baosteel commended its advanced collectives and individuals for the scientific and technological innovation of 2021. This strategic cooperation agreement will inject new momentum into MCC Baosteel’s digital transformation. It will also build a new platform for talent cultivation and transforming scientific and technological achievements in USTB.

Draft: GUO Qiuju

Revision: CHENG Mingyuan