Taizhou Enterprise Leo Group Base. Photo provided by the interviewed enterprise

The 2024 International Engineering Conference is about to be held in Taizhou. This appears to be the highest-level international conference in the engineering field that Taizhou has hosted in recent years. For Taizhou, as an important manufacturing base and city, it is undoubtedly a rare opportunity for learning, exchange, and cooperation.

When I saw this news, I first thought of the International Conference on Engineering Science and Technology held in Beijing 10 years ago. General Secretary Xi Jinping attended the conference in person and delivered a keynote speech titled "Let Engineering Science and Technology Benefit Humanity and Create the Future," which immediately struck a strong chord both inside and outside the conference.

What impressed me deeply was that this important speech not only cited classics and fully expounded the importance and development trends of engineering technology by combining theory with practice, but also recounted the profound changes brought to social development by the construction of an important project—the Hangzhou Bay Bridge—which he inspected and promoted six times during and after his work in Zhejiang. After reading it, I was reminded of another major project that he personally planned and promoted—the story of the Zhoushan Cross-Sea Bridge. I was very excited and moved, and for this reason I even wrote a short essay titled "A Head of State and a Cross-Sea Bridge," which was published on the "Canghai Yizhou" WeChat public account.

This important speech was published in full at the time. After studying it, I have several important understandings and reflections.

First, engineering science and technology is an important force for changing the world. The General Secretary emphasized that "engineering science and technology is the engine driving human progress and a powerful lever for industrial revolution, economic development, and social progress. Engineering science and technology is closely related to human survival and development, not only driving historical development but also providing an inexhaustible source of momentum for the progress of human civilization." This view highlights the foundational and core position and role of engineering science and technology in the development of human society.

Second, the cross-integration of information technology, biotechnology, new energy technology, and new materials technology is triggering a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. The General Secretary pointed out that "this will bring new opportunities for the development of human society" and that "progress and innovation in engineering science and technology will become an important engine for promoting the development of human society." This insight and judgment have been empirically verified by the practice of scientific and technological innovation and industrial transformation over the past decade.

Third, China takes the innovation-driven development strategy as a major national strategy and focuses on promoting innovation in engineering science and technology. The General Secretary emphasized that "China has a team of more than 42 million engineering science and technology talents, which is China's most valuable resource for creating the future." These words reveal confidence in and expectations for China's potential in the field of engineering science and technology, while also highlighting the key role of talent in innovative development. Science and technology and talent are the core innovation factors that the General Secretary has consistently focused on and emphasized over the years, and he has emphasized them increasingly.

The speech centered on major issues such as the importance of engineering science and technology, the trends of future scientific and technological development, and China's strategic deployment in the field of engineering science and technology, demonstrating profound insight into engineering science and technology and a far-sighted strategic vision. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's major projects and independent innovation have resonated at the same frequency: the Chang'e lunar exploration program, the Jiaolong deep-sea submersible, the BeiDou navigation system, high-speed rail, domestically produced large aircraft, domestically produced large cruise ships... a large number of landmark major projects with world-class advanced levels have reached new heights in China's engineering science and technology in the new era. Zhejiang, like the rest of the country, has continued to plan and build "thousands of projects with trillions of yuan" in engineering projects and has completed a large number of important transportation, water conservancy, communications, intelligent network, scientific research, cultural, ecological, and livelihood projects, greatly raising the level of economic development and social progress.

Engineering construction measures and tests the comprehensive level of manufacturing in a country, region, and city. As a frontier of China's private economy, Taizhou has in recent years, through multiple measures such as talent introduction and cultivation, scientific and technological innovation and development, and industrial cluster construction, become a vivid example of the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain. This has provided sufficient conditions for the International Engineering Conference to be held in Taizhou. I hope Taizhou will make full use of this important opportunity and platform for shaking hands with the world, deeply study and understand the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important speeches, conscientiously summarize practical experience, and not only tell the story of China's manufacturing and scientific and technological innovation well and fully demonstrate the vitality and charm of the private economy and Chinese-style modernization, but also, through exchange and discussion, draw on the useful experience of international engineering technology, further understand and grasp the development trends and laws of engineering technology in the context of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, deepen reform and opening up, rely on scientific and technological innovation, and promote the leapfrog development and green development of engineering manufacturing, so as to better benefit the people and humanity.