Keywords in Jiangsu's science and technology innovation trends①

2024 is a pivotal year for achieving the goals outlined in the 14th Five-Year Plan. Last year, Jiangsu ranked second nationwide in innovation capacity and led in fostering new and emerging unicorn enterprises. Highlights such as Nanjing University's discovery of experimental evidence of graviton-like particle, Changzhou's assembly of the world's largest unmanned cargo aircraft and 13 innovative drug approvals showcase Jiangsu's significant scientific and technological advances.

The year 2025 marks the conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Deputies to Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress and members of Jiangsu People's Political Consultative Conference share their insights on Jiangsu's science and technology innovation trends.

Keyword: AI +

Xu Shengyuan

AI+ can positively impact all industries and drive social and economic transformation. Jiangsu is a leader in AI+ with its research institutes excelling in basic research, frontier exploration, applied science, technology transfer, and interdisciplinary talent cultivation.

Professor Xu Shengyuan at Nanjing University of Science and Technology leads a team that conducts original research aligned with national strategies and local needs, advancing AI technology for unmanned vehicles, wheeled ground robots, and other unmanned systems.

His team has developed the first highway condition detection vehicle in China. It employs algorithms for automatically identifying road defects and a distributed processing method, achieving over 90% accuracy in defect detection and in turn reducing labour costs by over 70%.

In just two years, the application of the vehicle has generated an estimated economic value of 130 million yuan for road inspection efforts in Jiangsu.

Professor Xu believes that cultivating young innovative talent, especially interdisciplinary talent, is crucial for the leapfrog development of “AI+”. Recently, Nanjing University of Science and Technology has implemented a comprehensive personnel system reform aimed at providing young researchers with opportunities for career development and growth.

In the future, Xu's team will continue to explore AI and conduct original research on the detection, identification, navigation and control in challenging terrains.

Keyword: Intelligent and Digital Transformation

 Li Jiuhu

The intelligent and digital transformation of the manufacturing sector is driving new-quality productive forces. Li Jiuhu, deputy to Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress and CEO of Nanjing Nanrui Jibao Electric shared the company's success in building a smart grid industrial cluster. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the company’s capacity doubled and efficiency increased by 30%. Additionally, more than 10 suppliers in the industry completed intelligent upgrades, reducing business operational costs by 10%.

To support Jiangsu's “1650” initiative—focused on 16 industrial clusters and 50 key supply chains—successful upgrades in sectors like smart grids and integrated circuits set benchmarks for other manufacturing segments.

Currently, Jiangsu is leading the nation in both the number and quality of national-level intelligent manufacturing demonstration factories and national “digital pilot” enterprises. The province is strengthening guidance and support for leading enterprises in their efforts to integrate intelligent and digital transformation. By encouraging these enterprises to actively participate in the national intelligent manufacturing capability assessment and developing industry-specific digital transformation use cases, Jiangsu aims to promote industry-wide upgrades, paving the way for new growth in manufacturing.

Li highlighted the role of technical standards in improving product quality, strengthening market regulations, and cutting operational costs. Jiangsu should leverage its leading enterprises and university resources to actively participate in the formulation and revision of technical standards in emerging industries such as AI, integrated circuits, and 5G. This will ensure that Jiangsu's manufacturing industry stays abreast of trends in intelligent and digital transformation and enhance its influence in intelligent manufacturing.

Source: weixunjiangsu