On March 16, the second meeting of the Nanjing University Suzhou Campus Construction and Development Leadership Group was held at the Suzhou Campus of Nanjing University. Liu Xiaotao, member?of?the?Standing?Committee?of?the?CPC?Jiangsu?Provincial?Committee?and?Party?Secretary?of?the?CPC?Suzhou?Municipal?Committee，Wu Qingwen, Mayor of Suzhou，Tan Tieniu, Chair of NJU CPC Council and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Guo Huadong, Director of the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG Center) and Academician of the CAS. The meeting was chaired by by Tan Zhemin, President of NJU and Academician of CAS.
At the meeting, the 8th China Graduate Innovation Competition and the "Suzhou Digital Economy Development Research Report" were released. NJU and Suzhou New District (SND) signed the "Cooperation Agreement on Jointly Building NJU Affiliated School Education Group" and the "Memorandum of Cooperation on the NJU-SND Technology Transfer Fund."
During the meeting, six research platforms were unveiled, including the Suzhou Branch of SDC Center. The SDG Center, established in 2021, is the world's first international research institution using big data technology to support the 2030 Agenda, providing comprehensive scientific support, decision-making assistance, data sharing, and think tank services to United Nations member countries. The Suzhou Branch of the SDG Center, built with the support of NJU, is the first branch to be launched under the SDG Global Cooperation Network Plan.
Liu Xiaotao stated that Suzhou will thoroughly study and implement the important speech of President Xi Jinping during the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation at the third session of the 14th National People's Congress, focusing on investing more resources in people and creating new engineering, new ecology, new mechanisms, and new talent. Suzhou will fully support the construction of the NJU Suzhou Campus to make it a world-class campus. He hopes the campus will develop distinctive advantageous disciplines, optimize its professional setup, and innovate its training systems to provide strong support for developing new productive forces; create a more open innovation ecosystem, establish more school-enterprise joint innovation platforms, promote interactive cooperation on research platforms, and accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements; implement more flexible talent policies, actively advance the reform of talent discovery and training models, and attract and cultivate more leading talents and young top-notch talents; and create a higher-quality campus environment for the comfort and satisfaction of teachers and students.
Tan Tieniu pointed out that this meeting coincides with the sixth anniversary of the signing of the comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement between NJU and the Suzhou Municipal People's Government and the memorandum on the construction of the NJU Suzhou Campus. On behalf of NJU, he expressed sincere gratitude to the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee and Suzhou Municipal People's Government for their care and support for the construction and development of the Suzhou Campus. He emphasized that making the Suzhou Campus a vibrant new campus and a reliable partner for Suzhou is our unwavering goal and determination. In the future, NJU will better support Suzhou in implementing the important instructions of "taking the lead, striving to be the first, being at the forefront, and setting an example," and looks forward to further joint efforts with Suzhou in promoting the integration of technological and industrial innovation, gathering top talents, cultivating outstanding innovative talents.
Tan Zhemin stated that over the past year, close cooperation between the university and the local government has led to continuous development of the Suzhou Campus. This year marks the conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the planning of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the first sprint year of NJU's Forging Ahead Initiative and the year of "reform and overcoming difficulties," as well as the start of implementing the important instructions of "taking the lead, striving to be the first, being at the forefront, and setting an example." This meeting will further consolidate consensus and lay a solid foundation for the university and local government to focus on the construction of the Suzhou Campus and promote integrated development by 2025. NJU will further deepen cooperation with Suzhou, and strive to elevate the construction and development of the Suzhou Campus to a new level, accelerating the achievement of high-quality development.
Suo Wenbin, Vice President of Nanjing University, reported on the progress and plans for the Suzhou Campus. Wang Xinran, Party Secretary and Executive Dean of the School of Integrated Circuits and Yang Kun, Professor at the School of Intelligent Software and Engineering and Academician of the European Academy of Sciences, introduced their respective schools and recent achievements.
Other attendees included Jin Jie, Qi Song, Gu Haidong, Yu Yu and other leaders of Suzhou Municipal People's Government, Wu Qi and other leaders of SND. NJU leaders Liu Miao, Chen Yunsong, Jiao Ruihua, Lu Yanqing, Lu Xiancai, Li Bin, Ding Aijun, as well as representatives from relevant NJU departments and local government departments attended the meeting.
