On the morning of May 30, 2020, the 2nd National Innovation Prize Awarding and Commendation Conference was live-streamed on line. Academician Zhou Xuhong, a scientific and technical worker of Chongqing University, was given the advanced individual award of National Innovation Prize. Due to the pandemic, Zhou attended the award giving ceremony through video link.

In order to implement the important instruction spirit of President Xi Jinping, encourage and guide the scientific and technical workers to make innovations, in 2017, China Association for Science and Technology worked with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council to set up the National Innovation Prize, the selection of which is held every 3 years. The Prize is given to top scientific and technical workers in recognition of their outstanding contributions to pandemic prevention, poverty alleviation, basic research and frontier exploration, major equipment and engineering problem tackling, achievements transformation and innovation and entrepreneurship, and community service and significant influence generated at home and abroad.

Academician Zhou Xuhong was given the award because of his remarkable contribution to steel structure and steel-concrete mixed structure by innovatively developing the cold-formed thin-walled steel structure system, which promoted the development of cold-formed thin-walled steel structure from a sub-structure to a multilayered structure; innovatively developing the steel-concrete mixed structure system, which promoted the development of high-rise buildings and long-span bridge structure of China; and inventing one-way pre-stress two-way reinforcement concrete composite floor slabs, which promoted the fabricated and green development of housing construction. The research achievements have created significant technical and economic benefits and social benefits and promoted the scientific and technological progress of the civil engineering sector.

Winners of the National Innovation Prize are outstanding representatives of innovation teams and scientific and technical workers of China. They always coordinate their personal ideal with the national development, uphold the spirit of scientists of the new era, and work hard in an ultimate effort to promote economic development and meet the people's livelihood needs, fulfill the two centenary goals and bring about a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.