["13th Five-Year Plan" Tour] Discipline Construction and Scientific Research: Determine to be a first-class leader and climb the peak with indomitable spirit

2021-11-17

During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the HUTB insisted on continuously promoting the "double first-class" construction, creating a new situation in discipline construction and scientific research based on the discipline construction, relying on platform construction, taking major projects as the link and S&T innovation as the driving force.

Major landmark achievements help HUTB make leapfrog development

First, the major national management bottleneck in the field of resources and environment in the digital economy era was broken. HUTB seized the commanding heights of collaborative innovation management of resources and environment in the digital economy era, and was approved to establish the first National Center for Basic Science of “Theory and Application of Resources and Environmental Management in the Era of Digital Economy” in the central region; the digital technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain were used to conduct the key researches in mineral resources management, energy resources management, ecological environment management and construction of integrated management platform, and the first big data analysis system integrating real-time monitoring, data collection, evaluation and analysis, and scheme generation has been developed to provide high-level theoretical and technological supply for the resources and environment management in China; HUTB put forward a complete set of methods for analyzing and applying heterogeneous data related to resources and environment, and developed a series of technical methods for intelligent management of resources and environment, so as to realize the most accurate forecast of supply and demand, the finest simulation deduction and the most accurate decision analysis in the field of resources and environment management and control.

Second, the key problems in the national strategic development of smart city construction and smart society governance were solved. Facing the major strategic demands of national development and the frontier of disciplines, HUTB was approved to conduct the major project "Risk Prevention and Control and Management Decision-making of Resilient Cities Supported by Intelligent Technology" of National Natural Science Foundation of China and the major consulting project "Urban Governance System for New Smart Cities and Governance Capacity Modernization Strategy Research" of Chinese Academy of Engineering and other topics; took the lead in undertaking the preparation of the national "14th Five-Year Plan" for smart society S&T innovation, established and built the State Key Laboratory of "Data Intelligence and Smart Society", and systematically refined and studied the key issues of smart society governance; created a universal application digital base for smart society and a data-driven social governance big data platform, put forward the big data security sharing technology based on blockchain, and broke through the important problems in the basic technology field of data intelligence.

Third, the new highland of the new generation of artificial intelligence innovation and development was seized. Focusing on the major national strategies and the needs of economic and social development, HUTB took the lead in submitting the proposal of "Suggestions on Supporting Hunan to Establish a National Pilot Area for Innovation and Application of Artificial Intelligence" to NPC & CPPCC, implemented the approval of the Ministry of Science and Technology on Changsha's construction of a national new-generation artificial intelligence innovation and development pilot zone, and signed the Framework Agreement on Strengthening Strategic Cooperation in the Fields of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data with the Changsha Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, and proposed to build an "Artificial Intelligence Social Laboratory" in Changsha to promote the original innovation and key core technology research and development; made full use of digital intelligence technology to break the "digital blind zone", innovated "intelligent drive", improved the "meticulous and accurate" digital governance capability, established the public health risk assessment and emergency management & control method driven by a multi-source spatio-temporal big data, and built a risk source model with high accuracy to assess the risk of epidemic spread; developed the epidemic alarm and control system, work resumption system of enterprise, etc., helped prevent and control the epidemic, and provided the technical support and decision-making basis for the E-government Office of State Council, Health Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology, CDC and other departments; built a series of platforms such as Inspur Cloud Industrial Internet, ICP and IOP to effectively promote the application and demonstration of information technologies such as cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain in the intelligent manufacturing, intelligent transportation, smart energy, smart environmental protection, business intelligence and other fields, and introduced new paths, new mechanisms and new methods for the innovation and development of a new generation of artificial intelligence.

Fourth, the major national technical problems of group intelligent decision-making were overcome. Based on the data resource governance mechanism, data management decision value analysis and data mining analysis technology, HUTB developed the first decision application software development platform “Smart Decision" with independent intellectual property rights in China which won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, providing strong support for the scientific management and correct decision-making of the government and enterprises; undertook the major project "Design of National Security Management Decision System" of National Natural Science Foundation of China and the major research plan integration project "Big Data Driven Public Management Decision Innovation Mode and Integration Demonstration Platform" of National Natural Science Foundation of China to ensure that the national security incidents are effectively resolved and promote the intelligent and scientific development level of the public management platform of China; HUTB was approved to conduct the major project "Research on Theory and Application of Enterprise Operation and Service Innovation Management" of National Natural Science Foundation of China, constructed a theoretical paradigm of big data-driven management and decision-making, established a panoramic management and decision-making theory and method system for big data, and put forward big data analysis technology and calculation methods for management and decision-making problems, so that China ranks among the international leaders in the related fields of big data-driven management and decision-making research.

Fifth, the major policy suggestions on the construction and practice of the national "two-oriented society" were put forward. HUTB published the paper "Building the Theory and Practice System of Two-oriented Project Management in the New Era" on the national authoritative journal Management World and published the monograph Evaluation Theory and Practice of Two-oriented Society Construction, which won the first prize of outstanding scientific research achievements of the Ministry of Education; promoted the formulation of a major national policy system for the development of China's carbon neutral path, constructed a standard system in the fields of economic development, urban and rural construction and public services of "two-oriented society", took the lead in formulating and issuing 16 "two-oriented" standards and 18 energy conservation and emission reduction standards, and put forward major policy suggestions for the construction and practice of "two-oriented society" in China as the important reference for the construction of "two-oriented society" and ecological civilization in China; empirically tested the important role of information and communication technology in realizing the low-carbon economy and sustainable development of China, first systematically put forward the theoretical framework of resource-saving and environment-friendly project management, and deeply studied the theoretical interpretation and practical experience of process management, financing management, risk management, public relations management and legal affairs management of "two-oriented" projects to enrich and expand the existing theoretical system of project management.

HUTB gave full play to the role of academicians in leading innovation and gathering talents, and have established a number of new engineering schools, such as Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, School of Intelligent Engineering and Manufacturing, School of Resources and Environment, School of Microelectronics and Physics, School of Digital Media and Information Engineering, etc., set up a high-level talent team led by academicians such as Nie Jianguo, Fan Guobin, He Jishan, Liu He, Lu Chunfang and Wang Jian, with distinct levels and reasonable structure, and constructed a new education pattern that the “new engineering courses + new business courses + new liberal arts courses" and the science courses are cross-integrated; closely connected the industrial chain and innovation chain, promoted the deep cross-integration between disciplines, built a prosperous discipline construction system, and formed a new discipline development pattern that "the peak discipline Management Science and Engineering stands at the forefront, the plateau disciplines such as Theoretical Economics and Business Administration rank top, and the interdisciplinary disciplines of big data and artificial intelligence win the future"; according to the concept of "leading science and technology to serve the society", seized new industries, new formats, new models and new development opportunities, built a community of scientific and technological innovation, deepened the integration of production and education, promoted the integration of production, education and research, communicated with the important manufacturing enterprises in Hunan such as CRCHI, Sany Heavy Industry, Zoomlion and Kaitian Environmental, built a cooperation base of production, education and research, accelerated the construction of an open innovation platform and the gathering of innovation elements, and promoted the transformation and industrialization of a number of original innovation achievements with independent intellectual property rights and wide application prospects, created a number of demonstration benchmarks, formed a number of application models, comprehensively enhanced the ability of HUTB to serve the economic and social development, and provided the intellectual and talent support and S&T services for building innovative first-class technology and business university with distinctive characteristics.

Great achievements have been made in the construction of first-class disciplines

During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, HUTB insisted on focusing on the construction of economics and management disciplines, strengthened the construction of business characteristic disciplines, and basically formed a first-class discipline system at the provincial and university levels. In 2018, HUTB ranked the first-class discipline construction universities in Hunan Province, among which "Management Science and Engineering" was selected as the first-class construction discipline in Hunan Province, and "Applied Economics" was selected as the first-class cultivation discipline in Hunan Province; six first-class disciplines were selected in the "Best Discipline Ranking List in China" of Shanghai Ranking, and Management Science and Engineering ranked 20th in China, entering the top 9%. HUTB was approved as a doctoral degree granting project construction institution in Hunan Province, and recommended to participate in the evaluation of newly added doctoral degree granting institution of the Ministry of Education. Four first-level disciplines, namely Management Science and Engineering, Applied Economics, Business Administration and Law, were approved as provincial doctoral degree authorization points, and the important results have been achieved for "doctoral promotion point". There are 7 authorization points for master's degree in first-class disciplines and 6 authorization points for master's professional degrees, and the total number of master's degree points in HUTB has reached 26. There are 10 national first-class undergraduate discipline construction sites, 20 provincial first-class undergraduate discipline construction sites, 4 national first-class undergraduate courses and 48 provincial first-class undergraduate courses. In the ranking of universities in China Alumni Association Network, HUTB jumped from 410th in 2015 to 200th in 2020, ranking 13th among financial and economic universities in China, and its comprehensive strength was greatly improved.

Interdisciplinary integration shows its characteristics

"Characteristics mean the advantages and competitiveness". During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, HUTB strengthens the integration of “new engineering courses + new business courses + new liberal arts courses" and the science courses, actively cultivated the development of engineering and science disciplines, paid attention to the cross-integration and development of engineering and business, engineering and liberal arts, promoted the deep integration of modern information technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and Internet of Things with traditional economics and management disciplines, advanced the characteristic development of Management Science and Engineering, Applied Economics, Business Administration, Law, Theoretical Economics, Marxist Theory, Chinese Language and Literature, Arts and other disciplines to lay a foundation for seizing the commanding heights of discipline construction, and also provide strong discipline support for cross-disciplinary and innovative undergraduate talents in excellent classes of academicians such as digital economy, intelligent management, big data and artificial intelligence, intelligent society and intelligent governance.

Discipline platform and team building both made a great leap

Significant achievements have been made in the construction of discipline platform. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the National Center for Basic Science of “Theory and Application of Resources and Environmental Management in the Era of Digital Economy” of National Natural Science Foundation of China, led by Chen Xiaohong, Party Secretary and CAE Academician, was approved to be established, becoming the first national basic science center in the central region. Academician Chen Xiaohong also took the lead in applying for the cultivation base of Hunan State Key Laboratory of "Data Intelligence and Smart Society". Up to now, HUTB has a total of 28 provincial scientific research platforms, 2 collaborative innovation centers of Hunan in 2011, 4 key laboratories of Hunan (the provincial key laboratory of "New Retail Virtual Reality Technology" was rated as "Excellent"), 1 engineering research center of Hunan, 1 international science and technology innovation cooperation base of Hunan, 1 professional think tank of Hunan and 19 other provincial scientific research platforms such as the key research base of social sciences of Hunan. Business Studies was awarded "National Excellent Journal of Social Sciences in Colleges and Universities". During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, we adhered to the talent strategy of combining "internal training with external introduction", accelerated the pace of talent team construction, and further optimized the discipline team structure. There are 333 teachers with doctoral degrees, and teachers with senior professional and technical positions accounted for 37.18% of the total number of full-time teachers. Professor Chen Xiaohong has been elected as an academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, a member of the National Committee of the Eighth Natural Science Foundation of China, and served as the convener of the Evaluation Group for Management Science and Engineering Discipline of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council. Led by academicians, the "talent pool" of discipline construction and development has been gathered to establish the discipline leaders and discipline team with the faculty of high professional titles and high academic qualifications as the main body, laying a solid talent foundation for the sustainable development of disciplines.

High-level scientific research projects and achievements have been greatly improved

During the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, HUTB has undertaken nearly 1,800 scientific research projects at all levels, including 4 major projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China, 1 key special project of National Key R&D Plan, 2 major research projects of philosophy and social sciences of Ministry of Education, 1 major consulting project of Chinese Academy of Engineering, 7 key projects of National Social Science Fund of China, 105 general projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China and National Social Science Fund of China. The total number of national social science projects ranks among the top in the province.

HUTB has published nearly 2,400 papers, including more than 600 academic papers in authoritative journals at home and abroad such as Nature, Management World, Chinese Science and Journal of Management Science and more than 60 highly cited papers in the top 1% of ESI, where Chen Xiaohong, Party Secretary and CAE Academician, has been selected as "Global Highly Cited Scientist" for three years in a row; and won the second prize of the Outstanding Achievement Award of Scientific Research in Colleges and Universities (Humanities and Social Sciences) of the Ministry of Education, 23 provincial and ministerial outstanding achievement awards, including 1 Fudan Management Award for Outstanding Contribution, 1 Outstanding Achievement Prize of the 8th Scientific Research Award of Higher Education Institutions of the Ministry of Education, 15 Outstanding Achievement Awards of Philosophy and Social Sciences in Hunan Province, 2 Scientific and Technological Progress Awards in Hunan Province, and 2 Natural Science Awards in Hunan Province. The quantity and quality of the award-winning achievements have been greatly improved; Nearly 300 monographs have been published publicly.

The capability of scientific research to serve economic and social development has been significantly enhanced

During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the social service capacity improvement plan was implemented around the overall national strategy and the needs of economic and social development, which effectively promoted the capability of scientific research to serve economic and social development. HUTB has carried out substantive cooperation with nearly 300 local enterprises and institutions, built a production, education and research base, and obtained more than 200 patents and software copyrights; focused on major global issues and China's issues, carried out investigations and studies, and put forward a number of insightful policy recommendations. More than 100 achievements of faculty have been adopted by the Party and the government, and the applied achievements has won 2 provincial science and technology progress awards. In particular, the team led by Chen Xiaohong, Party Secretary and CAE Academician, actively offered suggestions, and submitted more than 10 high-quality policy suggestions to the central leaders, which received important instructions from the leaders of the Party and the state.