The Summer Davos was held in Tianjin from September 18 to 20, 2018. The theme of this year’s Davos was “Creating an Innovative Society in the Fourth Industrial Revolution”. Based on the theme of the annual meeting as well as the domestic and international economic situation, twelve issues were put forward.  

On two of these issues Tianjin University has undertaken the basic research, and delivered reports on “Emerging Engineering Education - The Intelligent Engines and Resources for the Fourth Industrial Revolution” and “The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Formation of Innovative Industries”. The scholars are researching topics concerning the new industries and new forces of an innovative society. 

Professor Gong Jinlong, Cui Zhenduo and Yuan Xubo of Tianjin University wrote the research report, “Emerging Engineering Education - The Intelligent Engines and Resources for the Fourth Industrial Revolution”. According to the research, the rising of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing the development models of all kinds of industries in the world, bringing new challenges to the development of industry in all the countries and requiring new directions for talent training in various countries. Future engineering scholars need to master abilities regarding cross-border integration, future emerging areas and the systems for new industries. Many countries are welcoming the Fourth Industrial Revolution while exploring and reforming the student training methods.  

According to the research, China’s exploration mainly involves three aspects. The first is fostering related subjects of strategic, emerging industries. The second is exploring the systems of student training featuring “industry-education integration”. The third is accelerating the training of talented people who are in short supply in key areas. Accelerating research efforts is of strategic significance for China’s development by conforming to the trends of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and taking part in International competition. Emerging Engineering Education should not only provide intelligent engines and resources for the Fourth Industrial Revolution but also demonstrate a new vision and the Chinese Plan for the reform of senior engineering education in the world. 

The principal writers on the topic of “the fourth Industrial Revolution and the Formation of Innovative Industries” were Professor Wang Shibin, Chen Zhihua and Zheng Gang from Tianjin University. 

According to the research, the integration of the value chain in the world is changing from “outsourcing” with the core of creating value to “crowdsourcing” with the core of value innovation. Global manufacturing models are changing from traditional massive standardization to mass and personalized customization in the future. Epoch-making technological progress promotes the rapid development and upgrading of traditional industries. What’s more, the improved technology can also be applied widely into other related industries, driving the development of “big industry” across the whole society. 

Demand, intra-industry competition, technological innovation and entrepreneurship are the source of ideas and the source of power for industrial innovation; high-value technology is what innovative industries need; diversified capital structure is the basis of industrial development; high-quality human capital is the guarantee of industrial innovation endowment while external factors such as facilitating policies are indispensable. 

Researchers also put forward suggestions for building an innovative society in China. According to the report, compared to the advanced countries, China has obvious disadvantages in independent innovation capability, resource utilization efficiency, industrial structures, informatization and quality efficiency. In order to make a uniquely Chinese innovative industrial system and make Chinese industries stand up in the mid to high end of the global value chain, China needs to consider future investment and trade layouts from a global perspective, stress its own industrial features and advantages, develop collaborative innovation which crosses areas, industries and nations, develop industrial Internet platforms, and form an alliance of industry, education, research and application. China also needs to accelerate the transformation and promotion of scientific and technological achievements and boost innovative industries by implementing special policies. 

Many experts and scholars of Tianjin University attended the Summer Davos. Some young scholars such as Sun Peizhe, Huang Xian, Wu Yi, Wang Yong and Zhang Yifan attended the Yong Scientist Activity at this year’s Davos. Professor Duan Xuexin from the School of Precision Instruments and Optoelectronics Engineering at Tianjin University, on behalf of Chinese scientists, attended the communication activity among young scientists and made an academic speech, on the topic, “the Application of Gigahertz Acoustic Technology in the areas of Chemical Sensing and Biomedicine.”