On the morning of January 26th, the School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation and the Institute of Artificial Intelligence of Huazhong University of Science and Technology were formally established. Here is the list of the attendees: Chen Anli, vice-governor of the People's Government of Hubei Province, Zhu Yingfu, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chai Tianyou, academician from Northeastern University, relevant comrades of the Hubei provincial Party committee and the Wuhan municipal Party committee, scholars of the artificial intelligence industry, leaders of the related cooperative enterprises, and leaders of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, including Shao Xinyu, Li Yuanyuan and Xu Xiaodong, etc.. The conference was hosted by Xu Xiaodong, vice president of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Shao Xinyu read out the school's decision to establish the School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation and the Institute of Artificial Intelligence, as well as the appointment of the deans. Chen Anli and the main leaders of Huazhong University of Science and Technology unveiled the nameplates.
Xu Xiaodong said that in 1978, Huazhong University has established the Institute of Image Recognition and Artificial Intelligence. Forty years after the reform and opening up, the institute and other related disciplines have achieved remarkable results and ranked among the top in the disciplines for more than ten years. Last year, General Secretary Xi Jinping also emphasized in relevant conferences that artificial intelligence was an important driving force for a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and accelerating the development of a new generation of artificial intelligence was strategically concerned with whether China can seize the opportunities in the revolution and transformation. Facing the new situation, targeting new requirements, and focusing on the new mission, the school Party committee has also conducted many trials and judgments in conjunction with General Secretary Xi Jinping's requirements and its own disciplinary layout. It was agreed that it indeed needed an entity college to take the lead in focusing on the overall construction of the discipline, so as to seize development opportunities and achieve rapid development in a new round of the competition. Therefore, the college came into being. At present, the academic output of Huazhong University of Science and Technology ranks eighth in the field of artificial intelligence, with the quality ranking sixth in China. The establishment of the School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation is a useful attempt to optimize the systems and institutions. We hope that the school can obtain better development and make a breakthrough in a shorter period.
The newly established School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation was mainly based on the original School of Automation. Artificial intelligence features a strong interdisciplinary nature, a wide range of researches, and a close combination of theory and practice. The School of Automation nearly covers the majors required for the construction of a new college. Meanwhile, the college has a high-quality platform and research team that can support its development. And it has obtained fruitful achievements in many aspects, including computer vision, hybrid intelligence, brain-like intelligence, cluster intelligence, autonomous intelligence, and unmanned systems. These existing resources have laid a solid foundation for the development of the School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation and the Institute of Artificial Intelligence.
