On November 29, the National Finals of the First China Graduate Intelligent Construction Innovation Competition (CGICIC) came to a successful close in Nantong, Jiangsu
Province. As a benchmark event for high-level talent cultivation and technological innovation in intelligent construction, this competition was jointly organized by SEU,
Nantong Municipal People’s Government, and Hohai University.
After six months of preparation, CGICIC attracted over 1,300 teams from around the world to register, with 336 teams advancing to the finals. SEU students shone at the
national finals, topping the country with 23 awards (12 First, 9 Second, 2 Third)! The "Smart Bridge Guardian" team took runner-up, and "Young Pioneers" won the "Best
Style Award."
Sun Youhong, Vice Secretary of the CPC SEU Committee and President of SEU, attended the event and delivered a speech, introducing the university’s disciplinary
advantages and research strengths in intelligent construction. He emphasized that intelligent construction is increasingly becoming a “major new growth engine” in SEU’s
comprehensive efforts to build a world-class university with Chinese characteristics. In the future, SEU will strengthen its foundation through educational reforms, lead the
direction with technological breakthroughs, and invigorate the ecosystem with outstanding talent, driving the continuous iteration and upgrading of the intelligent construction
industry system.
Yang Wei, Chairman of the Association of Chinese Graduate Education, noted that the competition demonstrated three outstanding features: “high-level vision, high-standard
organization, and high-quality outcomes.” He pointed out that promoting the deep integration of traditional advantageous disciplines such as manufacturing, civil engineering,
transportation, and hydraulic engineering with modern information technology would be not only urgently demanded for cultivating new quality productive forces and building
a modern industrial system, but also pose higher requirements for cultivating high-level interdisciplinary talent.
To ensure the professional standards of the competition, an expert committee led by 11 Chinese academicians was established, participating deeply in guidance and
evaluation. In terms of competition topics, the event innovatively included regular tracks, challenge tracks, and enterprise open-innovation tracks. The six on-site challenge
tasks in the challenge track, such as robotic bricklaying and drone inspection, were all designed on simulations of real-world engineering scenarios. The ten topics in the
enterprise open-innovation track were all derived from the actual technical pain points of partner enterprises, achieving a competition model of “real problems, real scenarios,
and real challenges”, and enabling research outcomes to directly serve industrial demands.
It is worth mentioning that the research achievements of the winning teams have demonstrated broad application prospects. The “Smart Bridge Guardian” team from SEU
developed a digital bridge intelligent agent for operation and maintenance decision-making, envisioning future bridges as “smart bridges that can learn.” The team stated that
this competition has not only reinforced their determination to use AI technology to push the boundaries of traditional bridge operation and maintenance theories but also
highlighted the immense potential of intelligent technology in empowering infrastructure construction.
During the competition, the 6th Academic Forum on Intelligent Construction and Operation and Maintenance of Infrastructure was held simultaneously, providing a platform
for industry exchange. The closing ceremony also saw the signing of investment intent agreements and announced the official launch of the plan for winning teams to join
SEU’s “SEU Construction Cloud” platform, which aims to accelerate the incubation and commercialization of outstanding innovations.
Source: China Refrom Daily; China Daily; JiangsuNow
Translated by: Melody Zhang
Proofread by: Gao Min
Edited by: Li Xinchang
