The China Automation Congress 2021 (CAC 2021) and the 60th Anniversary of the Chinese Association of Automation (CAA) were recently held in Kunming. Twelve scientists were granted the Outstanding Contribution Award for the 60th Anniversary of the CAA at the congress, including Professor Xi Yugeng from the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).

As an automatic control expert, Professor Xi serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Asian Control Association, the special advisor for the CAA, and the advisory board member of the Control Theory Commission of the CAA. As a pioneer in predictive control in China, Xi has made outstanding contributions to the country in promoting communication, research, and the application of predictive control. In 1984, he completed his doctoral dissertation in predictive control in Germany. He returned to China in an attempt to promote this new control technology to the Chinese academic and industrial communities. He wrote about this technology in university textbooks for the first time. Beyond that, he published a book on predictive control, the first of its kind in China back then, wrote a series of influential papers and reviews on predictive control development, conducted research on the principle, theory, and methodology of predictive control, endeavored to make predictive control one of the priorities in national scientific and technological development, and advocated the establishment of a commission on predictive control and intelligent decision-making under the CAA. His research outcomes in predictive control have won a second prize of the National Natural Science Award, three first prizes, and three second prizes of the provincial and CAA science and technology progress awards. His book on predictive control has been extensively cited by his peers and won the second prize of the National Excellent Science and Technology Book Award, of which the second edition received funding from the initiative “China Book International” for English translation.

The CAC 2021 is hosted by the CAA under the theme of “Inheriting and Carrying Forward the Spirit of the Older Generation of Scientists, and Striving to Promote the High-level Self-reliance of Automation”. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the CAA, the Outstanding Contribution Award for the 60th Anniversary of the CAA was established to commend the older generation of scientists who have made outstanding achievements in the academic disciplines of control, industrial prosperity, the development of the CAA, inherit and carry forward their innovative spirit and dedication, and encourage scientific and technological practitioners to break new ground, forge ahead and strive to elevate China’s science and technology to even higher levels of self-reliance.

Entrusted by the CAA, Li Shaoyuan, Vice President of the CAA, presented the medal award to Xi prior to the event.