On May 26, 2023, with the request of the Ministry of Education, the meeting to demonstrate the feasibility of the building plan of the Engineering Research Center for Ecological Big Data of IMU, Ministry of Education(denoted as ERCEBD hereafter), was held at IMU. Over 30 people attended the meeting. They include Lu Yuan, director of the Division of Science, Technology and Informatization of the Education Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Gao Guanglai, vice president of IMU, Zhang Zhihui, deputy director of the Division of Science & Technology of IMU, expert group of the meeting and researchers of the center.

Meeting

Gao Guanglai, vice president of IMU, addresses the meeting.

Prof. Ma Donghua, head of the expert group who is with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, addresses the meeting.

The expert group of the meeting includes Prof. Ma Donghua with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Research Fellow Ma Keping with the Ecological Center of the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Yuan Wenping with Sun-Yat Sen University, Prof. Shen Chao with Xi’an Jiaotong University, Prof. Han Guodong with Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Prof. Bao Yuhai with Inner Mongolia Normal University, Li Jun, deputy director of Xiongan Block Chain Laboratory, Zhang Zutao, vice president of H3C and president of R&D Department of H3C and Guo Xinling, chief technology officer of Inner Mongolia Intelligent Blue City Science and Technology Co; Ltd. and director of R&D Center of the company. Prof. Ma Huadong acted as the head of the expert group. The meeting was chaired by Zhang Zhihui, deputy director of the Division of Science & Technology of IMU.

During the demonstration, Prof. Zhou Jiantao, director of ERCEBD, centered around ERCEBD’s building progress, necessity and feasibility of building the center, building tasks and aims, supporting conditions, building plan, regime for operation and management of ERCEBD, gave a detailed report to the expert group on the tasks, plan and measures of building ERCEBD.

Prof. Zhou Jiantao, director of ERCEBD, gives a report on the center.

Zhang Zhihui, deputy director of the Division of Science & Technology, chairs the meeting.

The expert group inspected on the site where the research is conducted at ERCEBD and had a profound exchange with the backbone teachers and master and PhD students of ERCEBD. After the inspection, the expert group believed with the full questioning and discussion that ERCEBD made its development plan closely meet the strategic needs to build the ecological security shield of the country and had clear development goals. The group also pointed out that the research team of ERCEBD is reasonably structured; the center has complete supporting conditions and a sound management and operation regime. The group decided that ERCEBD meet the demands of the Ministry of Education for an engineering research center and the building task plan is approved and qualified. The group members also gave their own advice on the future development of ERCEBD.

On-the-spot inspection

Gao Guanglai expressed, on behalf of the university, the warm welcome and sincere thanks to the expert group and congratulated ERCEBD on getting approval from the Ministry of Education for its building plan. Gao said that IMU has long attached great importance to the development of ERCEBD. He assured that next the university will, on the basis the guiding advice of the expert group, focus on the strategic needs of the country and the autonomous region, give full play to its interdisciplinary advantage, strengthen the development of ecological big data and make more landmark research achievements in solving difficult technological problems to contribute more to forging the ecological security shield in the northern border area of China.