On September 7, Lin Tao, Chairman of Jiangsu Binxin Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Binxin Steel"), led a delegation to the USTB Changping Innovation Park to conduct business exchanges with Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., USTB (hereinafter "DRI, USTB") on the R&D and transformation of green, low-carbon, and intelligent smelting technologies. The two sides conducted in-depth docking on the green, low-carbon, and intelligent transformation of the steel industry. Zhu Rong, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of USTB's State Key Laboratory of Green and Low-Carbon Steel Metallurgy; Cheng Nailiang, Chief Engineer of Binxin Steel; He Anrui, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Engineering Technology, USTB (hereinafter "IET, USTB") and Chairman of DRI, USTB; Zhang Yongjun, Dean of IET, USTB and Vice Chairman of DRI, USTB; and Guo Qiang, General Manager of DRI, USTB, attended the meeting.

He Anrui extended a warm welcome to the visitors. He stated that IET, USTB actively responds to the national "dual carbon" strategy, lays out the green, low-carbon, and intelligent track of the steel industry, and has established the Low-Carbon & Intelligent Metallurgy Division. The division will base itself on the school's disciplinary and scientific research resource advantages, streamline its internal operation and management system, build a scientific and reasonable assessment and incentive mechanism, and fully stimulate the team's vitality for undertaking initiatives. At the same time, it will adhere to the deep integration of industry, university, and research, proactively dock with the actual needs of the industrial front line, and steadily advance technology R&D and engineering achievement transformation. He expressed the hope that, taking this exchange as an opportunity, the two sides will deepen pragmatic cooperation with Binxin Steel in fields such as low-carbon metallurgy technical services, energy conservation and carbon reduction, and intelligent transformation, jointly create a demonstration model of university-enterprise cooperation and mutual benefit, help IET, USTB's high-quality development, and add new momentum to the school's "Double First-Class" construction.

Academician Zhu Rong gave full recognition to the work achievements of IET, USTB and analyzed the opportunities and practical challenges currently faced by China's steel industry in its low-carbon transformation. He emphasized that technological innovation is the foundation of the Low-Carbon & Intelligent Metallurgy Division, and that it is necessary to firmly grasp the tackling of core technologies for low-carbon metallurgy and intelligent smelting, and keep a close eye on the development trends of frontier technologies in the industry. Binxin Steel is an active practitioner of the industry's green transformation, and the two sides have aligned business needs and broad space for cooperation. They should promote the pioneering implementation of technical achievements in the enterprise to form a demonstration, continuously polish the professional talent team, integrate the resources of the university and enterprise to exert joint efforts, and make every effort to build a world-class low-carbon metallurgy technology innovation highland and industry service platform, providing strong support for the green and intelligent upgrading of the steel industry.

Zhang Yongjun systematically introduced the overall situation of IET, USTB and its "15th Five-Year Plan" development direction, and expounded on the preparation process and construction mission of the Low-Carbon & Intelligent Metallurgy Division. He stated that the division should find its own positioning, anchor the development goal of green and intelligent transformation of steel, and coordinate the work of technology R&D, project implementation, and market expansion. It should open up the transformation channel from laboratory technology to industrial application, improve the full-process project management model, strengthen business collaboration and linkage, gather scientific research strength and engineering capabilities inside and outside the school, and join hands with Binxin Steel to build a business team with both technological innovation capability and market service capability, opening a new situation of rapid development of low-carbon and intelligent metallurgy business.

Lin Tao shared the practical demands of steel enterprises in the process of energy conservation, carbon reduction, and intelligent manufacturing transformation. He stated that under the guidance of the "dual carbon" strategy, the green transformation task of steel enterprises is arduous, and the optimization of production processes, implementation of low-carbon processes, and upgrading of digital systems all urgently need frontier technical support. He expected that the two sides would take this exchange as an opportunity to carry out joint tackling in directions such as the implementation of carbon-reduction technologies, upgrading of process equipment, and the construction of digital-intelligent platforms, transform university scientific research achievements into enterprise-implementable and effective retrofit projects, realize the deep integration of industry, university, research, and application and mutual benefit, and jointly help the steel industry move toward a green and intelligent new development stage.

Feng Chao, Director of the Low-Carbon & Intelligent Metallurgy Division, made an overall report on three aspects: "Development Positioning and Business Planning," "Core Team and Management Mechanism," and "Implementation Plan and Development Goals." He stated that the division will actively respond to national strategic needs, continuously promote business transformation, continuously deepen university-enterprise collaboration, and join hands with Binxin Steel to inject inexhaustible impetus into the green and intelligent development of the steel industry.

The participants conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions on key business directions such as mining and metallurgy green-low-carbon technology consulting, energy-conservation and carbon-reduction engineering design and implementation, digital-intelligent platform construction, and technical services.

Going forward, IET, USTB will continue to improve its internal management mechanism, accelerate the layout of key businesses, deepen university-enterprise collaborative innovation, and continuously advance the R&D and industrial implementation of low-carbon metallurgy and intelligent smelting technologies, empowering the green, low-carbon, intelligent, and efficient development of the steel industry.

Wu Jianzhong, Deputy Chief Engineer of Binxin Steel; Xiao Xiong, Vice Dean of IET, USTB; Li Xiaozhan, Deputy General Manager of DRI, USTB; Yu Wei, Chief Engineer; and technical backbones of the Low-Carbon & Intelligent Metallurgy Division, among others, attended the meeting.