Launching Ceremony

Speech by Zhang Chuanguang, Member of the Leading Party Group and Deputy Director-General of the Education Department of Henan Province

Speech by Cao Jian, Vice President of ZZULI

Speeches by Representatives of Chinese and Foreign Supervisors and Postgraduate Students

Keynote Reports by Experts

Signing of Cooperation Agreements

On October 23, the opening ceremony of the 2026 International Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research and Application (Henan) was held in Zhengzhou. The conference was hosted by the Education Department of Henan Province, organized by Zhengzhou University of Light Industry (ZZULI), and co-organized by eight universities in Henan, including Zhengzhou University and Henan University. More than 200 participants attended the conference, including over ten experts and scholars from the United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other countries, corporate representatives from CITIC Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., representatives of postgraduate students under the joint supervision of Chinese and foreign supervisors, and representatives from universities across the province. Zhang Chuanguang, Member of the Leading Party Group and Deputy Director-General of the Education Department of Henan Province, and Cao Jian, Vice President of ZZULI, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Wang Huaxing, Bureau Level Official at Level 2 of the Education Department of Henan Province, moderated the opening ceremony, and Zhang Cheng, Vice President of ZZULI, chaired the expert keynote report session.

In his speech, Zhang Chuanguang noted that the International Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research and Application serves as a key platform established by the Ministry of Education to promote the high-level education opening-up in the new era. Over the past five years, Henan has leveraged this conference platform to transition from individual exchanges to cluster-based collaboration, and upgraded its cooperation mode from project-level partnerships to collaborative community development, continuously integrating the education, talent, innovation, and industrial chains while pooling global intellectual resources. He expressed his hope that all participants would work together to facilitate the integration of innovation factors and build an open and collaborative innovation community; consolidate the educational foundation by deepening the joint supervision model of Chinese and foreign supervisors; and ensure closed-loop implementation to enhance the practical effectiveness of industry-education-research collaboration, thereby contributing the strength of international cooperation to Henan's development of new quality productive forces and its accelerated construction of a modern industrial system.

Cao Jian delivered a speech on behalf of ZZULI. She introduced ZZULI's distinctive features and its practices in integrating education with science and industry from four angles, including "light-industry roots, major mission, pragmatic approach, and innovation." She stated that ZZULI would provide solid logistical support for the opening ceremony and effectively organize and hold its thematic sub-forum. She expressed her expectation that all parties would take the conference as a bond to translate exchange intentions into tangible outcomes such as joint research projects, co-built platforms, and collaborative talent cultivation, thereby forging a close-knit and results-oriented industry-education-research-application community.

Afterward, representatives of Chinese and foreign supervisors and postgraduate students under the joint supervision model delivered speeches in turn. Zhang Gaiping, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Professor of Henan Agricultural University; Zou Shengyong, Deputy Chief Engineer of CITIC Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.; and Professor Juyoung Yoon, Academician of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, delivered keynote reports. They shared innovative achievements from the perspectives of basic research, industrial practice, and international frontiers, providing valuable insights for international industry-education-research collaboration and the cultivation of international talents. At the opening ceremony, ZZULI signed the Agreement on Industry–Education–Research–Application Cooperation with Zhengzhou Foguang Electric Power Equipment Co., Ltd., Sinoscience Clean Energy Technology Co., Ltd., and other enterprises.

Since 2022, ZZULI has hosted the International Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research and Application for five consecutive years, demonstrating its proactive role in advancing collaborative innovation across industry, education, research, and application. This year's conference theme is "Linking Global Innovation Resources and Elements to Build an Industry-education-research-application Community." ZZULI will continue to provide full logistical support for the opening ceremony. ZZULI will also organize the Forum for Advanced Functional Materials and Advanced Metal Material Forming and Processing, one of the nine thematic sub-forums. Eight other universities, including Zhengzhou University and Henan University, will organize the remaining eight sub-forums focusing on key areas such as human-cyber-physical intelligence, carbon neutrality, and smart energy. Each sub-forum will further deepen the joint supervision model of Chinese and foreign supervisors, promote precise alignment between global intellectual resources and Henan's industrial needs, and strive to build an international industry-education-research-application collaboration community, contributing to the development of an educational powerhouse and Henan's path toward modernization.