On December 21, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology held a conference on the high-integrated development of education, technology, and talent in the rare earth and critical minerals field at the Zhiyuan Conference Center on its Sanjiang Campus. The event featured the inauguration of three Excellence Innovation Centers in the field and the appointment of their directors, while also welcoming seven academicians and experts to speak at the university’s “Qingjiang Academic Forum.” This conference marks a decisive step by the university to accelerate its pursuit of becoming a world-class institution in rare earth and critical minerals. It reflects the university’s commitment to scaling new academic heights, forging a new development framework, and activating fresh momentum for high-quality growth, with profound implications for enhancing original innovation capacity and supporting national strategic scientific and technological strength.
Attendees included Academician Lai Yuanming of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Academicians Liu He, Wang Yunmin, and Zhu Rong of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Xie Kang, Member of the Jiangxi Provincial Education Working Committee and Inspector-General of the Provincial Department of Education; Chen Jinqiao, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology; Academician Ge Shirong of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of the university; Yang Bin, Standing Committee Member of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Deputy Director of the Population, Resources and Environment Committee, and Executive Director of the Gannan Laboratory; alumnus Professor Chu Fulei of Tsinghua University; Li Chaozhong, a national-level talent and researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; as well as members of the university’s Party and administrative leadership and representatives of faculty and students from the three Excellence Innovation Centers. The conference was presided over by Liu Zuwen, Secretary of the University Party Committee.
In his address, Xie Kang extended warm congratulations on behalf of the Provincial Education Working Committee and the Provincial Department of Education. He fully acknowledged the university’s outstanding contributions to serving national rare earth strategies and Jiangxi’s economic and social development. Xie also outlined three key expectations for the construction of the three Excellence Innovation Centers: first, to embrace a national perspective and focus on strategic needs by adhering to the “Four Orientations,” conducting targeted and systematic basic research as well as core technological breakthroughs aligned with national strategies and provincial industrial plans to address critical challenges; second, to deepen collaborative innovation and integrate industry, academia, research, and application by exploring new models of synergy among universities, research institutions, and leading enterprises while breaking down institutional barriers; third, to prioritize talent cultivation and build a talent hub by leveraging major research tasks and high-level platforms to innovate talent development models and serve as a reservoir for high-level professionals in the rare earth and critical minerals field. He expressed hope that the university would take this conference as a new starting point to strengthen organized research translation and talent cultivation, unleash innovation vitality, and contribute more wisdom and strength to national strategies and Jiangxi’s high-quality development.
Liu Zuwen announced the “Decision of the Party Committee and Administration of Jiangxi University of Science and Technology on Establishing Three Excellence Innovation Centers in the Rare Earth and Critical Minerals Field.” He stated that these centers serve as key platforms for integrating educational, technological, and talent resources both within and beyond the university. As primary units focused on scientific research, they will coordinate administrative matters and platform development related to research, consolidate academic resources, and build comprehensive scientific advantages. The entire university is urged to actively advance the construction of these centers, transforming them into high-level talent hubs and innovation bases in the rare earth and critical minerals field, thereby providing strong support for the university’s high-quality, connotative development.
Amid warm applause, experts and leaders including Wang Yunmin, Zhu Rong, Xie Kang, Chen Jinqiao, Ge Shirong, and Li Chaozhong jointly unveiled the plaques for the three Excellence Innovation Centers.
This was followed by an appointment ceremony, where President Ge Shirong presented letters of appointment to the directors of the Excellence Innovation Centers, the dean of the Rare Earth School, and specially appointed researchers of the Gannan Laboratory.
In his remarks, Ge Shirong elaborated on the developmental vision for the three centers. He emphasized that these centers are not merely a combination of platforms but a strategically designed, fully integrated, multidisciplinary, and deeply industry-academia-research collaborative innovation consortium. The Rare Earth Technology Excellence Innovation Center will focus on green development, high-end utilization, and intelligent management of rare earth technologies, aiming to become a highland for innovation in the field. The Advanced Materials Excellence Innovation Center will concentrate on key issues such as “super copper, ultra-hard tungsten, ultra-tough steel, low-carbon metallurgy, and digital-intelligent processes,” striving to establish itself as an innovation hub for advanced metal materials. The Critical Minerals Excellence Innovation Center will address critical challenges in “geology, mining, mineral processing, and intelligentization” to build a leading base for the intelligent development of critical minerals. Supported by three academic divisions, five national-level platforms, and fifteen provincial and ministerial platforms, the three centers will form a “troika” driving the university’s high-quality development. They will holistically advance the integrated development of education, technology, and talent, accelerate the university’s progress toward becoming a “first-class institution in the rare earth and critical minerals field,” and contribute to serving strategic needs such as “building a trillion-yuan critical minerals industry in Jiangxi” and “securing China’s strategic high ground in the rare earth industry.”
Following the ceremony, the university hosted the “Qingjiang Academic Forum” lectures by the seven experts. Academicians and specialists including Lai Yuanming, Liu He, Wang Yunmin, Zhu Rong, Yang Bin, Chu Fulei, and Li Chaozhong delivered academic reports on topics ranging from engineering theory in saline frozen regions and synergistic development strategies for oil-gas exploration and new energy, to technological support for strategic metal mineral production, green low-carbon steel metallurgy, intelligent equipment for copper rod-wire filament vacuum continuous casting, fault diagnosis and intelligent maintenance of mechanical equipment, and radical-based synthesis of organophosphorus functional molecules. The lectures were chaired by Xu Zhifeng, Deputy Secretary of the University Party Committee, and Wang Hang, Vice President of the university. The presentations offered both profound theoretical insights and innovative technical breakthroughs, providing an academic feast for the audience while holding practical significance for advancing technological progress and industrial upgrading in related fields.
