On December 16, the 2022 International Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research and Application - Conference on the Cooperation of Biotechnology and Application was held at the School of Life Sciences, Henan University.
The Conference was attended by Hengzhen XU, second-level inspector of the Education Department of Henan Province, Huaxing WANG, director of the Foreign Cooperation and Exchange Division of the Education Department of Henan Province, Lixin ZHANG, vice president of Henan University, Chen MIAO, executive vice president of the Graduate School, and Liqun MAO, director of the International Affairs Office. More than 200 teachers and students joined the meeting online.
At the Conference, Hengzhen XU delivered a speech, in which he indicated that Henan has taken measures to fully improve and optimize the university layout in Henan, as well as the construction of disciplines, colleges and majors to advance the "Double First-Class" construction of Zhengzhou University and Henan University. He pointed out that Henan has been working to coordinate scientific and technological resources with the scientific research platforms, and introduce and foster high-end talents. Finally, he expressed his wish that all attendants could join the campaign of building Henan into a national innovation highland and an important talent center.
Lixin ZHANG said that the international cooperation and integration of industry, education, research and application was the product of the integration of science and technology with the market, which is necessary for the "Double First-Class" universities that are developing toward international first-class universities. It is hoped that people could work together for win-win results between schools, enterprises, and local departments, so as to contribute more to economic and social development.
Professor Tao LIU from the University of New South Wales in Australia believed that continuous breakthroughs in both biotechnology industrialization and life science research have promoted high integration of biotechnology with digitalization, mechanization, and electrification, which can be seen as a new technological revolution. He wished that the latest biotechnology achievements could be brought to the market as soon as possible through international cooperation on the integration of industry, education and research, so that the bioeconomy could be further developed in an innovative way.
After the opening ceremony, nine experts gave academic reports successively, including Prof. Luis Herrera-Estrella, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, Prof. David W Galbraith from the University of Arizona, and Prof. Jimmy Botella from the University of Queensland.
The Conference mainly discussed issues concerning biomedicine and modern agriculture to solve actual problems in the development of the biotechnology industry in Henan. It aimed to promote in-depth cooperations between schools, local governments, and enterprises in the integration of industry, education, research and application, and to create a talent training model driven by the integration to help with upgrading of biotechnology industry in Henan.