On November 19, Chongqing Scientific and Technological Awarding Conference was held. The list of winners of scientific and technological awards of Chongqing in 2020 was officially revealed at the event. Chen Min’er, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC and secretary of CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee showed up at the event and presented winner representatives with awards. Tang Liangzhi, deputy secretary of CPC Chongqing municipal Committee and mayor of Chongqing delivered a congratulating speech and paid his respect to the award winners. Chongqing University set a new record in terms of the number of awards granted to CQU-led projects, which is 16, 4 more than that in 2019. The number of award winning projects accounted for 50% of the number of first award winning projects in Chongqing.

The following 12 projects completed with CQU as the organization in charge and CQU teacher as the person in charge were granted the first achievement award:

Four natural science awards: The first winners were respectively Professor Hu Xiaosong from the School of Machinery and Vehicle Engineering of Chongqing University, Researcher Zhou Xiaoyuan from the School of Physics, Professor Liao Xiaofeng from the School of Computer and Professor Song Yongduan from the School of Automation.

One technological invention award: The first winner was Professor Zhou Xiaoping from the School of Civil Engineering.

Seven scientific and technological progress awards: The first winners were respectively Professor Zhu Caichao from the School of Machinery and Vehicle Engineering, Professor He Qiang from the School of Environment and Ecology, Professor Yu Miao from the School of Optoelectronic Engineering, Professor Wang Guixue from the School of Bioengineering, Professor Jiang Bin from the School of Material Science and Engineering, Professor Ge Zhaolong from the School of Resources and Security, and Professor Ding Xuanming from the School of Civil Engineering.

Totally 4 projects completed with the partner organization as the organization in charge and CQU teacher as the person in charge were granted the first scientific and technological progress award. The first winners were respectively Professor Wang Xu and Professor Wang Shilong from the School of Machinery and Vehicle Engineering, Professor Wang Yuhang from the School of Civil Engineering, and Professor Chen Jie from the School of Resources and Security.

Eight projects completed under the lead of CQU teachers were granted the second awards and 1 granted the third award, including 3 natural science awards, 2 technological invention awards and 4 scientific and technological progress awards.

Chongqing University has been concentrating efforts on implementing the relevant decisions and deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on deepening the reform of the scientific and technological system and promoting the dissemination and transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and has been making constant efforts to build and optimize the scientific research innovation system, transformation management system, fundamental institutional system and social service system, actively promote the high-level creation and efficient transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and serve the national innovation-driven strategy and economic and social development of Chongqing.

Chongqing University has implemented the Everest Program for Basic Research in Colleges and Universities, the Major Project Cultivation Program, the Construction Program for Key Research Bases and the Action Plan for Military-Civilian Integration Development. In response to the needs of the scientific and technological frontier of the world and national major tasks, Chongqing University has been strengthening the top-level design and system layout of basic research by selecting cutting-edge scientific issues that have a significant impact on and leading role in the scientific and technological development and disciplinary construction of Chongqing University to guide the new direction of future research of Chongqing University and promote major original and prospective research. It always focuses on the "bottleneck" issues related to economic development and security of China, and contributes to the strategic national major science and technology and major projects by organizing and implementing the research of "bottleneck" technology, and working with leading enterprises of the industry for collaborative innovation, so as to solve the basic theoretical and underlying technical bottlenecks of key and core technologies, and continuously improve its ability to make breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies; it regularly revises and improves the Academic Evaluation Indicator System for Teachers of Arts and Social Sciences and the Academic Evaluation Indicator System for Teachers of Natural Sciences to highlight the quality, contribution and performance. It has also established a fault-tolerant mechanism, so as to encourage the exploration of "from 0 to 1", and provided active support to those concentrating on scientific researches.

In the past 3 years, a number of projects led by Chongqing University have won first national prize for progress in science and technology. CQU has also undertaken major projects supported by National Natural Science Foundation, and was approved to establish a National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station. The “Chang’e 4” Biological Test Load, developed with Chongqing University as the leading organization, sent forth “the first sprout on the moon”.

It is reported that totally 153 projects (enterprises) were granted the 2020 Scientific and Technological Award of Chongqing. Specifically, 29 were granted the natural science award; 6 granted the technological invention award; 115 granted the award for progress in science and technology, 32 granted the first prize; 60 granted the second prize; 58 granted the third prize and 3 granted the enterprise technological innovation award.

Photographer: Liu Xia