On the morning of August 16th, the 2025 China Automation and Artificial Intelligence Education Conference and the National Finals of the National Youth Labor Skills and Intelligent Design Competition opened in Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province.
The opening ceremony was attended by distinguished guests including Yang Mengfei, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fellow and President of the Chinese Association of Automation, and researcher at the China Academy of Space Technology; Zheng Nanning, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Fellow and Honorary President of the Chinese Association of Automation, and professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University; Shi Ruyu, Deputy Mayor of Tongxiang City; Wang Feiyue, Fellow and Supervisor of the Chinese Association of Automation and researcher at the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Jiang Enlai, Vice President of the China Association for Higher Education; Zhang Chenghui, Fellow and Vice President of the Chinese Association of Automation and professor at Shandong University; Zhou Jie, Fellow and Vice President of the Chinese Association of Automation and professor at Tsinghua University; Chen Jiming, Fellow and Deputy Supervisor of the Chinese Association of Automation, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Hangzhou Dianzi University; Sun Changyin, Fellow and Deputy Supervisor of the Chinese Association of Automation, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Anhui University; and Gao Xinbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Xidian University. Over 1,000 representatives from academia, education, and industry attended the opening ceremony in person, with nearly 1.5 million participants joining online. Additionally, over 10,000 young participants from across the country, including Hong Kong and Macao regions, took part in the competition.
The opening ceremony was hosted by Zhou Jie, Fellow and Vice President of the Chinese Association of Automation and professor at Tsinghua University. Academician Yang Mengfei and Vice President Jiang Enlai delivered opening addresses.
In his opening remarks, Academician Yang Mengfei stated that the new phase of intelligence is having a significant impact on education, bringing new opportunities and challenges for automation science and technology workers in four main aspects: First, cultivating intelligent teachers to make personalized education a reality and greatly enhance the effectiveness and equity of knowledge education. Second, combining knowledge chips with the human brain to significantly improve our efficiency in acquiring knowledge. Third, integrating artificial neural networks with human brain neural networks to continuously increase innovation potential. Fourth, forming new educational systems and new educational evaluation methods. He expressed hope that young participants would maintain their curiosity about the unknown and pursuit of truth during the national finals, honing their practical abilities through hands-on experience, developing critical thinking through teamwork, and deepening their patriotic sentiments through problem-solving.
Vice President Jiang Enlai's address centered on three themes: "Seizing opportunities of the era and shouldering the new mission of educational transformation," "Emphasizing systematic integration and building a new ecosystem for future education," and "Strengthening unity and cooperation to create a new landscape for intelligent education." He emphasized the need to seize opportunities and use digital intelligence to drive profound educational transformation, taking on the missions and responsibilities bestowed upon us by the times. He advocated for building a new ecosystem for future education from the perspectives of schools, teachers, and students. Universities should enhance their sense of urgency and responsibility, treating digital transformation as a "top leadership project," placing it at the core of their "15th Five-Year Plan" development plans, strengthening top-level design and coordination, reinforcing support conditions, and implementing a series of strong policy measures to ensure steadfast reform direction and progress.
Secretary-General Zhang Nan of the Chinese Association of Automation introduced the competition overview. Xie Zuoru, head of the AI Innovation Center at Wenzhou Science and Technology Senior High School, served as the referee representative, while Zhou Moran from Beijing Daxing District Second Primary School, Gulijamali Abulikmu from Bortala Vocational and Technical College, and Song Chenyi from Langfang No. 6 Middle School represented the participating contestants in taking the oath.
The conference report session was hosted by Xin Jingmin, Fellow and Vice President of the Chinese Association of Automation and professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University. Wang Feiyue, Fellow and Supervisor of the Chinese Association of Automation and researcher at the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Zhang Chenghui, Fellow and Vice President of the Chinese Association of Automation and professor at Shandong University; and Gao Xinbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Xidian University, delivered reports respectively.
Researcher Wang Feiyue presented a report titled "CASE for AI Education: K21 = iSTREAMs + iCDIOs." Based on research in parallel intelligence and intelligent education, he proposed CASE (Control/Automation Science and Engineering) as a new foundational curriculum for the AI era and K21 education. The core concept involves integrating "learning by doing and doing by learning" throughout K21 education, combining iSTREAMs and iCDIOs, and deeply integrating intelligent technology with new humanistic concepts. Through virtual-real interactive intelligent methods, the report constructed a multi-dimensional educational ecosystem of knowledge transmission, capability development, and value shaping, providing systematic solutions for cultivating interdisciplinary talents in the AI era.
Professor Zhang Chenghui delivered a report titled "Construction and Practice of Innovation Talent Training System for Automation Majors Oriented towards 'Internationalization-Diversification-Intelligence.'" He pointed out that the new round of technological revolution led by artificial intelligence has raised higher requirements for innovative talent cultivation, and automation major development faces new challenges. The report shared the development process of "internationalization," "diversification," and "intelligence" construction in automation majors at Shandong University, exploring the accumulation process of national-level teaching achievements and summarizing experiences.
President Gao Xinbo presented a report titled "The Rise of Artificial Intelligence and Educational Transformation." He pointed out that the rapid development of artificial intelligence has profoundly impacted education, and AI education must start with young people. In his report, he introduced the development history of artificial intelligence and recent milestone achievements in large models, outlined future development trends of AI, deeply explored opportunities and challenges facing education in the AI era, and proposed his thoughts on the direction of educational transformation.
The conference featured a special summit dialogue session themed "Digital Teacher Development: Talent Forging Mechanisms for New Quality Educational Forces," hosted by Sun Changyin, Fellow and Deputy Supervisor of the Chinese Association of Automation, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Anhui University. Participants including Chen Jiming, Fellow and Deputy Supervisor of the Chinese Association of Automation and President of Hangzhou Dianzi University; He Wei, Standing Committee Member and Vice President of Beijing Information Science and Technology University; Lu Renquan, Fellow and Honorary Supervisor of the Chinese Association of Automation and Vice President of Guangdong University of Technology; Lv Jinhu, Fellow and Standing Director of the Chinese Association of Automation and Vice President of Beihang University; Xia Yuanqing, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Zhongyuan University of Technology; and Zhao Yuxin, Director of the Chinese Association of Automation and Vice President of Harbin Engineering University, engaged in deep discussions on topics including teacher digital capability training system pathways, teacher policy incentives and dynamic evaluation mechanisms, AI technology empowerment of teaching management, and university AI general education construction.
The conference officially released two key achievements: the "Artificial Intelligence Field Technology Talent Atlas" and the "Educational Large Model Technology Roadmap," providing scientific guidance and powerful tool support for precise talent cultivation and disciplinary development in the digital education era.
The "Artificial Intelligence Field Technology Talent Atlas" focuses on core dimensions including structure, regional distribution, supply-demand relationships, and innovation capabilities of China's AI field technology talent. Based on a multi-source heterogeneous, dynamically evolving, comprehensive data matrix, it creates a visualization chart set integrating spatial patterns and temporal progression, forming a talent ecosystem indicator system encompassing innovation momentum. Through the presentation format of "charts + indices," it systematically deconstructs and strategically analyzes the macro situation, evolutionary trends, and core capability construction of China's AI field technology talent, comprehensively outlining the overall portrait of AI talent development.
The "Educational Large Model Technology Roadmap" brings together over 30 frontline experts in computer science, automation, and AI education, tracking and summarizing research achievements from over 60 higher education institutions and research organizations, over 70 domestic and international enterprises, investigating application cases from primary and secondary schools in 15 provinces and cities, collecting over 50 large model industry reports and over 1,000 high-level scientific research papers and patents. It summarizes 22 educational large model application scenarios with quantitative evaluation, analyzes 5 major trends and 5 major challenges in educational large model technology development, and provides 10 recommendations for application and research implementation.
The 2025 China Automation and Artificial Intelligence Education Conference and the 2024-2025 National Youth Labor Skills and Intelligent Design Competition National Finals, themed "Digital Empowerment for Educational Development, New Quality Forces Building Talent Foundation," aims to open new pathways for intelligent education, create new educational ecosystems, and gather tremendous wisdom for building high-quality educational systems. In addition to three keynote reports and one summit dialogue, the conference carefully arranged five parallel sessions where university presidents and authoritative scholars gathered to deeply discuss hot topics including AI educational transformation, discipline construction, digital teacher development, excellent engineer training, and primary and secondary school AI science popularization.
The conference features a special teaching achievement exhibition area focusing on basic education, vocational education, and higher education, showcasing cutting-edge digital educational achievements, interdisciplinary exploration, and excellent teaching practice cases in the fields of automation, information, and intelligent technology, comprehensively demonstrating the enormous potential of innovative education in nurturing talents for the new era.
The 2024-2025 National Youth Labor Skills and Intelligent Design Competition National Finals was held concurrently with the conference. This competition features 13 categories including Super Craftsman, Mechanical Loading, AIGC Design, and Intelligent Programming, attracting nearly 200,000 students from across the country and overseas. Currently, regional competitions have been organized in 31 regions including Hong Kong, Macao, Xinjiang, and Tibet. After more than six months of preliminary and regional competitions, over 10,000 contestants have emerged to compete in the national finals.