Source: Yuyao Institute of Innovation
Recently, the China Industry-University-Research Collaboration Promotion Association officially announced the results of the 2025 Science and Technology Innovation Awards. Professor Liu Wen, head of the (Preparatory) School of Intelligent Manufacturing at our university, stood out among thousands of candidates nationwide and was honored with the “Innovation Figure Award” in recognition of his outstanding achievements and contributions to the deep integration of industry, academia, and research.
Approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Office for Science and Technology Awards, this award is a major national-level honor in China’s collaborative innovation landscape. It aims to recognize outstanding scientists and technologists who play a key role in integrating the “four chains”—the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain.
Professor Liu has devoted more than two decades to front-line scientific research. Upholding the philosophy of “enterprises set the questions, science provides the answers, and the market evaluates the results,” he has consistently aligned academic research with industrial needs and ensured that innovations serve the real economy. Leading his team, he has worked closely with more than 60 “specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative” enterprises in Ningbo, tackling key challenges in precision forming, integrated die casting, and precision flow control.
He has spearheaded the development of core technologies such as upsetting-bulging composites and rheological internal high-pressure forming, significantly improving production efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs. Related components have been successfully applied by several internationally renowned automobile manufacturers, generating nearly RMB 1.5 billion in total sales. His team also took the lead in industrializing integrated die-cast chassis components, driving rapid growth for partner enterprises. By overcoming foreign technological monopolies, they developed a series of high-end control valves, filling a critical domestic gap. Currently, the team continues to advance research in cutting-edge fields such as micro/nano manufacturing and embodied intelligence, further enhancing industrial competitiveness.
In terms of technology transfer, Professor Liu led the establishment of the Ningbo Micro/Nano Manufacturing Concept Verification Center, creating a province-leading “micro/nano powder+” full-chain validation platform. This platform integrates R&D, pilot production, validation, and incubation, accelerating the transformation of scientific findings into industrial applications and effectively bridging the gap between research and the market.
As a dedicated advocate of industry-education integration, Professor Liu has proposed the innovative “four-flow-driven” education model, promoting the alignment of the education chain with the industrial chain through the integration of talent flow, technology flow, project flow, and capital flow. He has guided young faculty members to engage deeply with industry, transforming cutting-edge industrial practices into teaching cases and pooling resources to build innovation platforms. Among the first batch of “Science and Technology Vice Presidents” of Ningbo, he has advanced a collaborative education model that integrates universities, platforms, enterprises, and industrial chains, delivering tangible results at the Yuyao campus and cultivating high-quality engineering talent for regional development.
This award not only recognizes Professor Liu’s long-term dedication to industry-university-research collaboration and regional service, but also affirms ZWU’s commitment to integrating industry with education and science with teaching. In recent years, ZWU has aligned itself with Ningbo’s goal of becoming a high-level innovative city, focusing on key areas such as high-end equipment and new materials, and producing a series of landmark achievements.
Taking this award as a new starting point, ZWU will continue to deepen the integration of industry and education as well as science and education, vigorously cultivate high-level innovative talent, and generate more technological breakthroughs, contributing further to high-quality regional economic and social development.