On April 12, the “Sichuan–Tsinghua Local Cooperation and Innovation Development Conference” was held at the Chengdu Tianfu International Convention Center. Yu Lijun, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Executive Vice President of Tsinghua University, Zeng Rong, attended the conference, and Deputy Party Secretary Guo Yong delivered remarks on behalf of the university.

At the conference

Yu Lijun extended a warm welcome to all guests and expressed sincere gratitude for long-term support from all sectors for Sichuan’s development. He noted that General Secretary Xi Jinping has placed high expectations on Sichuan’s development, assigning it the mission of building “two highlands, two bases, and one barrier,” and proposing the important requirements of “four key efforts,” providing direction for modernization in the new era. In recent years, Sichuan has actively aligned with major national strategies, including the construction of a strategic hinterland, and has strengthened talent-driven development under the strategy of coordinated industrialization, urban-rural integration, and regional development across five zones. Talent has increasingly become a powerful driver of development momentum. He expressed the expectation that cooperation with Tsinghua University will be further deepened, focusing on interdisciplinary integration in cutting-edge fields and new models of industrial technology transformation, jointly exploring new cooperation pathways and paradigms to inject new vitality into development. He also called on all regions, departments, and employers to invest in talent and the future, leveraging resources across universities, enterprises, and local governments to promote precise alignment of talent, technology, and industry, and to accelerate the transformation of scientific achievements from “bookshelves to production lines” and from “samples to products.” He warmly invited global experts and talents to Sichuan to contribute to its development and jointly pursue breakthroughs in science and industry, painting a grand blueprint for building a strong province through talent in the new era.

Guo Yong stated in his remarks that Tsinghua University and Sichuan Province have long maintained a close partnership, achieving fruitful results in multiple areas. As the first new-type research institution established under the provincial-university strategic cooperation framework, the jointly built Tsinghua Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute has taken root in Sichuan for ten years, providing strong support for regional development. At present, the university is in a critical phase of advancing integrated development of education, science, technology, and talent. This conference is both an important initiative to deepen university–local cooperation and a vivid practice of promoting integration of technological and industrial innovation. Looking ahead, Tsinghua University will work hand in hand with Sichuan Province to promote deep integration of education chains, innovation chains, industry chains, and talent chains, leveraging Tsinghua’s original “from 0 to 1” breakthroughs to drive Sichuan’s industrial scaling “from 1 to N,” and better serve high-quality economic and social development.

The conference was jointly organized by Tsinghua University, the Organization Department of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Education, and the Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and undertaken by the Office of Domestic Cooperation of Tsinghua University, Chengdu Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, Sichuan Tianfu New Area Administrative Committee, Tsinghua Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute, and Sichuan Institute of Science and Technology Talent Research, with cooperation from the Organization Departments of Deyang and Meishan Municipal Committees. The aim is to further deepen strategic provincial-university cooperation and promote integrated development of education, science, technology, and talent. More than 1,100 representatives from provincial agencies, cities (prefectures), Tsinghua University and its alumni association, universities and research institutes in Sichuan, leading enterprises, investment institutions, and media attended the event.

During the conference, the “Gathering Talent in Sichuan for Innovation and Future Development” talent innovation achievement transformation matchmaking event and the launch ceremony of the “Three-Into Initiative” were held, along with the release of the “Sichuan Provincial University–Research Institute–Enterprise Talent Collaborative Innovation Alliance Initiative,” promoting efficient flow of talent, technology, and innovation factors to build an open and shared innovation ecosystem.

In the thematic release session, Li Shuiqing, Deputy Director of the Research Institute of Tsinghua University, introduced the overall innovation landscape of the university. Lu Zongxiang, Executive Deputy Director of Tsinghua Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute, released the institute’s development report. The Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology released the “Sichuan Province Technology Demand List,” focusing on key technological needs to promote precise matching between innovation supply and industrial demand.

Lu Zongxiang released the development report of Tsinghua Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute

At the conference, the “China (Africa) Zambia Hydropower and New Energy Resilient Cooperation Joint Laboratory,” jointly established by four institutions from China and Zambia, was officially inaugurated. In addition, a series of key projects from Tsinghua University professor teams, alumni enterprises, and priority enterprises and platforms introduced by the Tsinghua Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute were signed, further expanding collaboration and international cooperation space and releasing sustained innovation momentum.

In the invited keynote session, Academician Zhang Zongliang of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, former Vice President of State Grid Corporation of China and Party Leadership Group member Chen Guoping, and Party Secretary of the Department of Computer Science at Tsinghua University Jia Jia delivered frontier presentations on hydropower engineering, new-type power systems, and artificial intelligence, respectively.

As supporting events of the conference, from April 11 to 13, a series of forums were held, including the “Education–Science–Technology–Talent Integrated Innovation Development Forum,” the “15th Five-Year Plan Energy Science and Technology Innovation Forum,” and the 9th Tsinghua–Sichuan Science and Technology Achievement Matchmaking Conference, along with multiple salons and “Expert Talent Visits to Cities and Prefectures” activities, covering the full chain from basic research to industrial application.

Since the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement between Sichuan Province and Tsinghua University in 2014, both sides have jointly written a chapter of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, becoming a model for provincial-university collaboration. This conference fully demonstrated the fruitful achievements and broad prospects of cooperation between the province and the university, injecting strong momentum into deeper and broader future collaboration.