On May 13th, 2020, Prof. YANG Renshu, President of USTB, Prof. WU Aixiang and Prof. ZANG Yong, Vice Presidents of USTB, and Prof. MAO Xinping, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, visited the HBIS Group to discuss coordination on the “Collaborative Innovation Center of Green Steel Manufacturing” (CIC). They were met by Mr. YU Yong, HBIS Group Secretary General of the Party Committee and Chairman, Mr. WANG Lanyu, General Manager and Vice President, and Mr. WANG Xindong and Mr. LI Yiren, Deputy General Managers.

Mr. YU Yong and Mr. WANG Lanyu, on behalf of the HBIS Group, extended a warm welcome to the visiting delegation and expressed their appreciation for USTB’s on-going support. They then gave a detailed introduction on the recent developments at the HBIS Group and expressed their intention to continue deepening strategic cooperation with USTB. In focusing on product technology development, green intelligent manufacturing, and resource & energy utilization, the CIC will try to solve key issues in the development of the HBIS Group and steel industry, thereby making the CIC a national platform and leading model for university-industry cooperation in deriving practical results from technological breakthroughs.

Mr. YU Yong presented appointment letters to Academician MAO Xinping, naming him Director of the CIC, and Prof. ZHANG Jianliang, Secretary General of the Party Committee, School of Metallurgy of USTB, to be Deputy Director of the CIC. Mr. ZHAO Jun, General Manager of HBIS Serbia Steel and an alumnus of USTB, was awarded a trophy and certificate as a winner of the  2019 Touch the Heart of USTB  award.

Then, Prof. ZHANG Jianliang delivered a report on the planning of the CIC. Over the past two years, the CIC has made strides in cost-reduction measures through enhanced efficiency, green development, intelligent manufacturing, and product upgrades. Under the leadership of the HBIS Group and USTB, the CIC will leverage its advantages in industry, talents and technologies in order to create an international green steel manufacturing R&D platform that promotes the integration of industry-university cooperation while deriving practical results from research objectives, as well as producing technological innovations to accelerate the transformation and enhancement of the steel industry.

Academician MAO Xinping expressed his gratitude to the HBIS Group and the contributions made by the former leadership of the CIC. He then delivered three suggestions for the future development of the CIC. First, it should focus on the needs of enterprises in order to further improve its ability to serve their needs, especially in realizing cost-reduction measures through improved efficiency and green manufacturing. Second, it should pay attention to consumer needs, promote structural transformation and improve product quality. Finally, it should focus on promoting enterprises to embrace intelligent manufacturing in the current digital economy era.

Prof. YANG Renshu extended his gratitude to the HBIS Group, as well as extending warm congratulations to Academician MAO Xinping, Prof. ZHANG Jianliang and Mr. ZHAO Jun, while finally expressing his respect for all his colleagues for their devotion to the CIC. He emphasized that the two sides should look to the CIC to provide high-level inter-disciplinary talent training opportunities. The CIC should aim to be a first-class collaborative platform which promotes innovation and transformation, while adhering to the goal of realizing industry-university integration while promoting practical results derived from research objectives. He hoped that with the joint efforts of the two parties, the CIC would soon become the world's most competitive green steel manufacturing R&D platform.

Afterwards experts and scholars from the two sides carried out further exchanges on the role of the CIC and future research projects.