To assess the development trends at the frontiers of engineering science and technology and keenly grasp the new directions of the technological revolution, the Chinese Academy of Engineering and others jointly released the "Global Engineering Frontiers 2023" report, distilling 187 global engineering items and assessing the development directions and trends of key engineering frontiers over the next 5 to 10 years. Among them, engineering frontiers are divided into engineering research frontiers, which focus on theoretical exploration, and engineering development frontiers, which focus on practical application. In the field of civil engineering, multiple research frontiers and development frontiers made the list, involving disciplines such as architecture, municipal engineering, urban and rural planning and landscape architecture, and civil engineering building materials, focusing on the major forward-looking, leading, and exploratory research and technical directions in engineering science and technology.
Artificial intelligence leads the way, providing new momentum. On the one hand, artificial intelligence continues to evolve and has become the foremost frontier technology. For example, the engineering research frontier "Structural Damage Identification and Performance Prediction Based on Artificial Intelligence" aims to use artificial intelligence methods to extract complex damage feature patterns from large volumes of multi-source, multi-modal data, achieving accurate identification and performance prediction. On the other hand, the "AI+" initiative has been launched, broadly enhancing application value. The accelerated integration of artificial intelligence and engineering technology has powerfully driven basic theoretical innovation and industrial application.
Cross-disciplinary integration and innovation, developing new models. At present, global scientific and technological innovation has entered a period of intensive activity, with the characteristics of cross-boundary integration, cross-disciplinary diffusion, and group breakthroughs becoming increasingly evident. First, disciplinary cross-integration continues to advance. New technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and renewable energy are accelerating their penetration and integration into various fields, moving toward intelligence, unmanned operation, precision, and low carbon, giving rise to new models of global technological and industrial development. On the one hand, disciplines are moving from individual innovation to system integration. Overall goals are achieved through technology integration and optimized resource allocation, showing notable innovative characteristics; on the other hand, disciplines are moving from parallel development to cross-integration. The scientific research field is undergoing a transformation of multi-technology integration and simultaneous advancement, with frontier technological innovation unleashing an aggregation effect. Second, research frontiers and development frontiers are accelerating their integration; research frontiers contain development tasks, and development frontiers contain scientific questions and theoretical research.
Driven by real-world applications, expanding new patterns. Application frontiers are developing in depth, driven by application scenarios and oriented toward solving complex problems. First, from technology research and development to scenario application. For example, the "Digital Technology System for the Protection and Utilization of Urban Historical and Cultural Resources" introduces ** intelligent digital technology into the traditional field of historical and cultural resource protection and utilization, improving the systematization of resource protection work and expanding the breadth and depth of historical and cultural resource utilization. Future key development directions are multi-source data fusion, risk monitoring and perception, assessment, deduction and early warning, value dissemination and utilization, and planning technology integration. Second, multi-objective coordination and multi-dimensional solutions to complex problems. For example, "Spatiotemporal Distribution and Intelligent Assessment of Mega Geological Disaster Chains" integrates multi-source data and intelligent algorithms to predict the development trends of geological disaster chains, develops an intelligent technology-based real-time monitoring and early warning system for geological disaster chains, and builds an intelligent risk assessment and prevention and control decision-making system.
Demand-oriented, enhancing new quality. The development of engineering frontiers will focus more on meeting the new needs of the people for a better life and more on meeting the new requirements of high-quality development. First, engineering frontiers mainly address the needs of building intelligent and safe structural facilities and expanding space for human development. For example, frontiers such as "Structural Damage Identification and Performance Prediction Based on Artificial Intelligence" target intelligent and safe structural facilities, while frontiers such as "Safety and Resilience-Oriented Spatial Optimization of High-Density Urban Human Settlements" target high-quality urban and spatial environments. Second, efforts will continue to be made in the transformation toward industrialization, digitalization, and greening. For example, frontiers such as "Prefabricated Components and Modular Structures" embody the industrial transformation, while frontiers such as "Carbon Reduction Methods and Technologies in Urban Renewal" demonstrate the concept of green and low-carbon development.
Science and technology empower development, and innovation determines the future. Every direction in the field of civil engineering contains infinite possibilities. Assessing engineering frontier trends is of great significance for grasping the general trend of scientific and technological development, reducing the uncertainty of the technological revolution, and promoting the innovative development of engineering science and technology. At a new starting point, we must firmly seize favorable opportunities and make good use of favorable conditions, develop new quality productive forces in light of local conditions, and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry and its high-quality development.
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