On June 24–25, Vice President Lu Weibing led a delegation to Urumqi, Xinjiang, to attend the China-Central Asia Conference on Industry-University-Research-Application Cooperation and conduct a series of inter-university cooperation meetings and industry-academia-research matchmaking activities with enterprises. The delegation included Xie Xuhong, Director of the Base and Achievement Division of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, and Wang Xianfeng, Dean of the Xinjiang Textile Industry Research Institute and Vice Dean of Donghua University's College of Textiles. The visit was aimed at serving high-quality “Belt and Road” cooperation, deepening science and education innovation collaboration and industry-education integration between China and Central Asian countries, and expanding the university's international education footprint.
The conference focused on core areas including scientific and technological innovation empowering cross-border industrial development and international educational and cultural exchange. Participants held in-depth discussions on frontier fields such as AI-enabled energy upgrading and modern agriculture quality and efficiency enhancement, building consensus on cooperation. The conference affirmed that China and Central Asian countries will deepen people-to-people connectivity and academic mutual learning through multi-channel and multi-dimensional approaches, consolidate the foundation for generations of friendly bilateral cooperation, build high-quality education cooperation platforms, and create a new highland for educational science and technology innovation cooperation along the Silk Road. During the conference, the "Joint Laboratory for Intelligent Cotton Topping Technology," jointly established by Donghua University and Tashkent State Agrarian University of Uzbekistan, was officially signed and unveiled, marking the formal launch of normalized, substantive cooperation between the two universities in smart textiles and modern agricultural science and technology, and injecting Donghua's scientific innovation strength into the intelligent upgrading of Central Asia's cotton industry.
(Signing ceremony for the Joint Laboratory for Intelligent Cotton Topping Technology jointly established by Donghua University and Tashkent State Agrarian University of Uzbekistan)
(Ceremony of the 2026 China-Central Asia conference on industry-university-research-application cooperation)
Before the conference, Lu Weibing and his delegation met with Rector Oblomuradov Narzullo of Tashkent State Agrarian University, Dean Eshonqulov Jamoliddin of the Faculty of Storage and Processing of Agricultural Products, and other university representatives. The two sides conducted comprehensive and in-depth exchanges and consultations on core issues including joint training of internationalized talents, collaborative research in key fields, co-building and sharing of international joint laboratories, and academic faculty exchanges. They reached multiple cooperation consensuses and signed an inter-university Memorandum of Understanding, laying a solid foundation for long-term and in-depth cooperation between the two universities.
(Signing ceremony for the inter-university Memorandum of Understanding with Tashkent State Agrarian University of Uzbekistan)
In addition, the delegation held a dedicated exchange session with Gulnara Karbozova, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation of M. Auezov South Kazakhstan University, and Gulzamol Makhmudova, Head of the Department of Textile Engineering at the university's Textile Institute. The two sides respectively introduced their educational strengths, disciplinary advantages, and international cooperation frameworks. Focusing on such advantage disciplines as textile engineering and new materials research and development, they held in-depth discussions on key matters including models for co-building international joint laboratories, priority areas for collaborative research, and cross-border commercialization of research outcomes, laying a solid foundation for targeted alignment, complementary strengths, and collaborative innovation between the two universities in the future.
(Group photo with representatives from M. Auezov South Kazakhstan University and relevant enterprises)
Driven by deep industry-academia-research integration and committed to serving high-quality regional industrial development, the Urumqi itinerary included visits by Lu Weibing and his delegation to four regional industry benchmark enterprises: Xinjiang Blue Ridge Tunhe Sci. & Tech. Co., Ltd., Saurer Xinjiang Intelligent Machinery Co., Ltd., Xinjiang Road New Materials Co., Ltd., and Digital Xinjiang Industry Investment (Group) Co., Ltd. The delegation visited production lines and R&D centers, gaining a detailed understanding of enterprises’ technological R&D bottlenecks, industrial development status, and talent demand orientations. Targeted matchmaking exchanges were conducted around technological breakthroughs, research commercialization, university-enterprise co-building of R&D platforms, and customized talent cultivation, building a bridge for collaborative innovation and mutually beneficial cooperation between the university and enterprises.
This series of international cooperation and industry-academia-research matchmaking activities represents an important practice by Donghua University in proactively aligning with the national opening-up strategy, deepening science, education, and industry cooperation with Central Asia, and implementing the educational philosophy of industry-education integration. Leveraging its distinctive disciplinary strengths in textiles, new materials, and smart agriculture, and taking the construction of international joint laboratories as a fulcrum and university-enterprise industry-academia-research cooperation as a key lever, the university has effectively opened up a coordinated development pathway linking “international inter-university cooperation, scientific and technological breakthroughs, and industrial application empowerment.”
Going forward, the university will continue to build on its disciplinary characteristics and research strengths, deepen educational and scientific cooperation with universities in Central Asian countries, strengthen targeted alignment with key industrial enterprises in Xinjiang, and promote the commercialization of more high-quality research outcomes and two-way cultivation of high-end talents, contributing Donghua’s wisdom and strength to advancing the building of a Belt and Road science, education, and innovation community and serving high-quality regional economic development.
