The 2022 list of comprehensive decisions by the Engineering Technology Innovation Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources was recently released. Three engineering technology innovation centers that Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) either led or took part in the efforts to build have been approved for construction. The Engineering Technology Innovation Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources (hereinafter referred to as the “Innovation Center”) is an important part of the science and technology innovation system of the Ministry of Natural Resources. It is an essential base for solving major problems in key and core engineering technologies in the field of natural resources, further enhancing the capacity of independent innovation, transformation and application of natural resources, and improving the support of the main business in accordance with the national major strategic imperatives.
SJTU has been doing its part to implement the national strategy, plan for the long term, and promote the transformation and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. The “Digital Engineering Technology Innovation Center for Territorial and Spatial Ecological Governance”, the “Polar Engineering Technology Innovation Center”, and the “Marine Intelligent Observation Technology Innovation Center” would provide fresh impetus to the efforts to build a scientific and technological innovation base at SJTU.
The “Digital Engineering Technology Innovation Center for Territorial and Spatial Ecological Governance” is a platform jointly established by the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences and Shanghai Digital Intelligent System Technology Co., Ltd. under the guidance of SJTU, and is the first provincial and ministerial science and technology innovation facility led by the SJTU School of Design. The Center will give full play to the multidisciplinary advantages of SJTU, bringing together internal and external forces, focusing on superior resources, conducting high-level basic research and tackling challenges in confronting key and core technologies, and striving to make major breakthroughs in common key technologies, cutting-edge leading technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technological innovation, etc., in a bid to make significant contributions to China’s ecological civilization.
The “Polar Engineering Technology Innovation Center” and the “Marine Intelligent Observation Technology Innovation Center” are two innovation facilities jointly established by the Polar Research Institute of China and the Second Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources. They work in collaboration with SJTU for resource protection, scientific research, and the exploration of China’s oceans.
Since 2018, under the guidance of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Natural Resources, SJTU has been exploring and innovating a system of scientific and educational integration, and has made a series of achievements. It has signed agreements for joint development with the Second Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Polar Research Institute of China. The Polar Deep-sea Technology Institute of the SJTU School of Oceanography and the Second Institute of Oceanography was recognized by the two ministries as a platform for scientific and educational integration. The project approval by the Engineering Technology Innovation Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources is a major milestone achievement of SJTU that has played a leading and exemplary role, taken the lead in aligning with the national needs, and contributed to the scientific and technological innovation and development of natural resources. In the future, SJTU will, as required by the Ministry of Natural Resources, build a solid, excellent, and strong innovation center, enhance the capacity of independent innovation of natural resources and the transformation and application of their research outcomes, build a strategic scientific and technological force for the modernization of the natural resource governance capacity and system, deepen inter-ministerial cooperation, and promote high-level disciplines and talent development with high-quality scientific research.