CCTV: 

As we all know, Hubei province's goal to become an important strategic fulcrum supporting the rise of China's central region cannot be achieved without talent. Hubei boasts a wealth of intellectual resources and has competitive scientific and educational talent advantages. Could you please introduce some explorations and practices in this regard? Thank you.

Wang Zhonglin:

Thank you for your question. I will invite Mr. Shao Xinyu to answer your question.

Shao Xinyu:

As one of China's three major intelligence-intensive areas, Hubei is home to 81 academicians, 132 universities, 2 million college students, 3,600 scientific research institutions, and 350,000 R&D personnel. These are the most valuable assets for the province and the main source of potential for its high-quality development. For the first time, the report to the 20th CPC National Congress in 2022 made an overall arrangement to integrate the development of education, science and technology, and talent. Hubei has actively practiced and explored this integration.

First, we pooled the strength of educational and sci-tech professionals based on innovation platforms. The national-level and provincial-level innovation platforms have paved the way for uniting prestigious universities, advantageous disciplines, outstanding talents, and excellent enterprises to expand the talent pool. For example, Huazhong Agricultural University spearheaded the establishment of Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, gathering eight academicians, 147 state-level, high-caliber professionals, and 151 post-doctorates to combine academic disciplines with industries and technology with applications while attaching researchers' benefits to the commercialization of scientific and research findings. In the past two years since its establishment, it has achieved 12 major domestically pioneered and world-class scientific research accomplishments, including identifying key genes for increasing corn and rice production. It has been selected twice as one of China's top 10 achievements in scientific and technological progress.

Second, major projects boost the efficient and integrative development of education, science and technology, and human resources. We have explored a coordination mechanism where enterprises raise questions, the government provides support, and solutions are jointly found through market-oriented assessments. This approach guides and supports universities and research institutes in conducting scientific and technological research, building disciplines, and developing talent, focusing on the critical needs of developing science, technology, and industries. For instance, Dongfeng Motor Corporation led efforts to establish an innovation consortium for automotive-grade chips, organizing over 2,000 researchers from various universities and institutions to join forces in overcoming the bottleneck of auto chips. They developed four types of automotive-grade chips. The Wuhan University of Technology has set up a special "Dongfeng Class" and provided targeted training programs.

Third, we cultivate talents by category to build a talent echelon in education, science, and technology. We follow the laws of talent cultivation, taking phased and classified steps to allocate educational resources. We are nurturing high-performing engineers, top-tier innovators, and strategic scientists in alignment with diverse talent needs for scientific and technological research. We have established schools for outstanding engineers to adapt to and lead future developments in engineering technologies and for scientific and technological innovation. We have carried out campaigns to increase the number of postdoctoral researchers and to cultivate and attract more of the brightest minds in the province. We support them in undertaking vertical (central-local) and horizontal (cross-regional) research programs, promoting the interconnected and coordinated development of education, science and technology, and human resources. For example, we are implementing projects to make breakthroughs in humanoid robot development and have established robotics engineering majors in many colleges and universities to nurture interdisciplinary talent through targeted training programs. Next, we will further explore and contribute to major breakthroughs and the development of a comprehensive education system, science and technology, and human resources in Hubei.