Two years ago, on the first day of China's national college entrance exams, as over 13 million students began their crucial tests, another significant examination related to Beijing's integrated reform of education, technology, and talent was quietly commencing in the Haidian Dayue Information Technology Park, located in the first phase of Beijing's Zhongguancun Northwest Wang Technology Park.
At that time, Zone C of the Haidian Dayue Information Technology Park consisted of empty buildings awaiting construction. Within just three months, through rapid construction and recruitment, over 300 doctoral students were selected from 31 universities. A new type of institution that breaks traditional educational boundaries—the Beijing Zhongguancun College and Zhongguancun Artificial Intelligence Research Institute—was established. This land, carrying Zhongguancun's 40-year legacy of innovation, developed a new model for integrated education-technology-talent development at an extraordinary pace. Over two years of rapid growth, more than 80 organized research projects, 14 joint laboratories and research centers, and over 10 major research advancements have taken root in Zhongguancun Northwest Wang.
Observing Zhongguancun offers a view of China's innovation landscape; being at the Zhongguancun College and AI Research Institute provides insight into Beijing's integrated reform. As China's political, cultural, international exchange, and technological innovation hub, Beijing possesses unique innovative assets: 4 national laboratories, 10 new research institutions, 92 universities, 145 national key laboratories, and over 1,000 research institutes scattered across the city.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China dedicated a chapter to the integrated deployment of education, technology, and talent for the first time. The Third Plenary Session proposed "coordinating the integrated reform of education, technology, and talent mechanisms," while the Fourth Plenary Session advocated "advancing education, technology, and talent development in unison." To address this strategic arrangement and pioneer the integrated reform, Beijing established the Municipal Party Committee's Education-Science-Talent Work Leading Group on April 15, 2025, systematically planning pilot measures to interconnect education, technology, and talent chains deeply and efficiently, allowing innovation to surge through Beijing's foundation.
On December 27, 2025, the inaugural Beijing University Student "AI+" Innovation Competition was held.
**Disciplinary Breakthroughs from South to North**
On January 27, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" memorial hall, the words "Look to the World" were strikingly visible under the sunlight. Surrounded by mountains, Zhou Qi, President of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, accompanied by academicians and experts, traveled uphill.
Here, China's first Interstellar Travel College was officially inaugurated—over 60 years ago, Qian Xuesen, a key figure in the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" project, proposed establishing such a college. His lectures formed the "Introduction to Interstellar Travel," becoming China's first foundational textbook for aerospace studies. It was here that Qian Xuesen personally selected and established China's first rocket research and testing base.
Today, the memorial hall stands quietly in the mountains, witnessing the establishment of the Interstellar Travel College. "The next 10 to 20 years are a critical window for China's leapfrog development in interstellar travel. Breakthroughs in basic research and technology will reshape deep space exploration and determine national core competitiveness," said Zhu Junqiang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of the Bureau of Strategic High-Tech Research, who serves as the college dean. He emphasized "daring to innovate" as a key vision for this futuristic college.
Over three years, universities in Beijing have accelerated the adjustment and optimization of disciplinary programs to meet national strategic needs and technological advancements.
Using Tiananmen Square as a central point, moving northwest, Tsinghua University established several academies integrating traditional engineering disciplines with AI. To the northeast, the University of International Business and Economics launched a new School of AI and Data Science. To the southeast, Beijing University of Technology unveiled new colleges focused on new energy, AI, and cybersecurity.
Beijing's 92 universities, including 34 national "Double First-Class" institutions with 185 top-tier disciplines, provide solid resource support for optimizing disciplinary structures.
By September 2025, Beijing had added 220 urgently needed programs in AI, quantum technology, and other fields, and established 99 high-precision disciplines. In the latest degree authorization review, 203 new master's and doctoral programs were added, with over half serving Beijing's high-tech industries. Additionally, 14 emerging interdisciplinary platforms were set up, promoting collaboration between national and municipal universities. Focusing on AI, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission initiated "Future Digital-Intelligence Academies," creating new classroom paradigms where "teachers script, machines tutor, and students practice engineering."
The deep end of reform often lies within stable systems. In universities, disciplinary structures are deeply tied to institutional mechanisms; adjusting a program entails restructuring departments, faculty, and resources. When technology evolves monthly, educational reforms struggle to keep pace, and disciplinary barriers become "invisible walls" hindering innovation.
"Universities must reform; this is an inward-facing transformation," said Zhang Yaotian, a member of the Beijing Municipal Education Working Committee and Deputy Director of the Municipal Education Commission.
Beijing introduced three key documents: a list of urgently needed majors aligned with industrial demands; a forward-looking disciplinary layout targeting future technologies; and an early-warning system for oversaturated programs to adjust training structures promptly.
Guided by these documents, Zhang Yaotian stated that Beijing's approach is: "Education must revolve around technology, and talent must follow industry trends."
**Breaking Boundaries with Schools Based in Zhongguancun**
Few places remain perpetually fertile and vibrant, but Zhongguancun is an exception.
Recently, the Zhongguancun College and AI Research Institute announced several major innovative research advances, showcasing Zhongguancun's "superpower" for innovation. Established just two years ago, the institute developed a "super software intelligence project," pioneering a "model-as-software" paradigm. Its "Earth-scale AI social simulator project" achieved a billion-scale multi-agent system with thousands of inferences per second. Over 80 research projects with potential academic and industrial impact are underway.
How to describe the institute's novelty and uniqueness? It features unconventional project-based education, special admissions for "eccentric talents," a research philosophy of "extreme basics, application, and interdisciplinarity," and events like the 12-hour "AI Future" hackathon. These bold concepts may sound exaggerated, but in Zhongguancun, they are the norm.
Zhongguancun birthed China's first private tech firm, first government-guided fund, and first local legislation for tech parks. In 2024, on 488 square kilometers, 20,800 national high-tech enterprises, 532 listed companies, and 93 unicorns thrived. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," Zhongguancun has spawned about 40,000 tech firms annually.
Decades ago, Chen Chunxian, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, started a business in a Zhongguancun warehouse, converting knowledge into wealth. Lei Ming founded Xiaomi in a small office after sharing a bowl of millet porridge, leading it to global markets. Zhongguancun naturally attracts talent and fosters a "dare to be first" spirit.
Located in Northwest Wang and named after Zhongguancun, the institute is destined for a remarkable mission.
In 2024, AI expert Shao Bin was appointed dean of the Zhongguancun AI Research Institute. "Unlike corporate labs like Google DeepMind or academic labs like MIT Media Lab, our institute aims to stimulate an integrated ecosystem of industry, academia, research, innovation, and investment, creating a platform for shared technology development," he explained.
This is an experimental field for AI innovation: platforms linking research, incubation, and funding allow students to launch AI startups within the institute's ecosystem. By January 2026, over 100 projects in embodied AI and AI-driven materials were incubating, with total funding near 200 million yuan and post-investment valuations around 1 billion yuan.
With top universities like Tsinghua and Peking University, Beijing has abundant resources to cultivate AI leaders. However, the Municipal Education Commission aims to "break traditional training models more broadly and thoroughly," Zhang Yaotian said.
Thus, Beijing established a new AI-focused institution, partnering with 31 key universities to train students through project-based learning. "In this open environment, students' creativity is greatly unleashed," Zhang added.
Many young talents are flourishing in this reform "testing ground." Yu Feng, a post-90s researcher in "AI+Natural Sciences" at the institute, has never left Zhongguancun since his studies. Witnessing its evolution from mobile internet to AI, he eagerly joined the "AI for Science" wave.
On February 12, 2025, Yu Feng's team developed a new tumor immunotherapy drug candidate "Z212"—"Z" for Zhongguancun, "212" marking the Lantern Festival day when the target was identified. Unusually, this drug was developed using AI agents that autonomously handled analysis, target discovery, and validation.
Compared to traditional drug development taking a year, Yu's team used their "AI Tumor Immunotherapy Drug Design Platform" to shorten the process to six months. In mouse models, "Z212" achieved an 83.7% tumor suppression rate, outperforming mainstream products. "AI helps us find better directions, obtain convincing results faster, and leverage larger funding," Yu said.
He sees himself in an "AI-native," industry-driven ecosystem where AI restructures R&D workflows. "The institute is an innovation accelerator. Small daily advances accumulate into major advantages," he noted.
As Liu Tieran, Secretary of the Beijing Zhongguancun College Party Committee, stated, "We aim not to follow congested innovation paths but to explore new ones, leaping from tracking frontiers to creating them."
**Enabling Close Industry-Education Integration**
While the Zhongguancun institute charts an unconventional path, Beijing's卓越工程师 (outstanding engineer) training leverages small breakthroughs to drive broader reform.
On December 28, 2025, the inaugural Beijing University Student "AI+" Innovation Competition launched at Beijing University of Technology's stadium. Centered on "enterprises pose challenges, students solve them," the contest attracted 11,000 students from 55 universities, including all Beijing-based "985" institutions. A real-world innovation contest began.
Projects included AI-based bird ecology monitoring, AI job-matching for students, AI screening for diabetic retinopathy, and AI revitalizing cultural relics. Over 30 investors observed, and 76 teams directly entered incubators like university startup parks. At academic conferences, students presented ideas, fostering youthful debate.
From competition breakthroughs to widespread platform reforms, new educational models are advancing across Beijing.
"Expanding education beyond campuses to corporate R&D lines, letting students lead in innovation, using AI as tutors for interdisciplinary fusion—these are key features of the new talent training model," Zhang Yaotian said.
In the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, the卓越工程师学院 is embedded in enterprise clusters, creating a three-kilometer integration zone. Students reach companies within three kilometers, with support services nearby. Industrial chains are highly concentrated, seamlessly linking education with industry needs. In this area, firms quickly consult researchers next door, and students tackle real production-line problems, boosting collaboration efficiency.
The "15th Five-Year Plan" proposes accelerating the cultivation of strategic scientists, tech leaders, outstanding engineers, and skilled talent. To implement this, Beijing established new platforms like the National卓越工程师 Innovation Institute, Zhongguancun College, and Capital Medical Science Innovation Center, partnering deeply with key enterprises to connect government, industry, academia, research, and application.
As a pioneer in applying practical成果 for degrees, Zhang Baichuan, a 2022 student at China University of Petroleum (Beijing), studied amid drilling rigs. After coursework, he moved into a dorm at the Sinopec Petroleum Engineering Technology Research Institute.
Chief expert Yang Xiaohua set him a challenge: develop an eco-friendly, high-temperature fluid loss agent to replace traditional sulfonated phenolic resin (SMP), overcoming five hurdles including 180°C heat resistance, cost reduction, and environmental standards.
In pilot workshops, scaling up from 200ml flasks to 100L reactors brought viscosity and solubility issues. For 40 days, Zhang worked alongside technicians, completing five scaling-up experiments and three ton-level pilot productions. When the third batch met standards, cheers moved him to tears. "I learned that turning papers into products requires sweat and persistence," he said.
Beijing's rich enterprise resources foster industry-education integration. According to the 2026 government work report, Beijing led the Nature Index for scientific cities for nine years. During the "14th Five-Year Plan," its R&D intensity ranked globally, unicorn numbers led China, high-value patents per 10,000 people and "little giant" firms doubled since 2020, and it cultivated three trillion-yuan and seven hundred-billion-yuan industrial clusters.
**Turning University科技成果 into Gold**
Yu Junsheng, a professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, researches terahertz large-aperture compact range testing systems. He understands faculty concerns about commercializing research.
Yu noted that "mental baggage" persists: some view commercialization as "distraction," fear losing stable jobs, or avoid startup risks. Investors also hesitate to back early-stage projects, fearing failure.
These barriers leave valuable research shelved.
On November 11, 2025, a forum on university tech transfer was held at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, with representatives from Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, and others. Discussions on bottlenecks and policy hopes informed Beijing's upcoming measures to enhance tech transfer效能.
"Act urgently, awaiting policies," Yu and colleagues eagerly anticipate changes.
Addressing deep-seated issues like "cannot transfer, hard to transfer, unable to transfer, unwilling to transfer, afraid to transfer," Beijing drafted measures. For "cannot transfer," universities may grant researchers ownership or long-term use rights of成果, allowing them to start businesses first and formalize rights later, ensuring收益 for institutions.
"Retain ownership, grant use rights, convert equity to options," summarized Chen Baiqiang, Director of the Technology Transfer Center at Beijing Institute of Technology. As a pioneer, the institute has cultivated dozens of transfers this way. "It simplifies approvals, safeguards core tech, and avoids state asset loss concerns if startups fail," Chen explained.
"Transfer involves both tech to market and talent to industry," Zhang Yaotian said.
To solve "hard to transfer" and "unable to transfer," barriers for firms and talent must fall. In September 2025, the National University Regional Technology Transfer Center (Beijing) was established in Haidian and Fangshan districts, linking local industries and building public platforms with professional tech managers to streamline innovation flows.
A corps of "professional technology managers" is forming in Beijing. Since 2020, Tsinghua, BIT, and BJUT have offered tech transfer degree programs, training over 500 graduates. Tsinghua co-founded the Beijing Technology Transfer College, launching China's first degree program in this field.
Changing transfer processes, talent development, and faculty mindsets requires reforming education evaluation metrics.
For "afraid to transfer" and "unwilling to transfer," Beijing issued guidelines clarifying accountability and due diligence in transfer, incorporating transfer outcomes into university evaluations and funding allocations.
Meanwhile, students are encouraged to commercialize导师成果, with师生共创 projects potentially qualifying for degrees under new regulations, recognizing value in practice.
Loosening mental constraints and mitigating risks "provide crucial safeguards, unleashing courage to innovate," Yu said.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan," Beijing universities signed tech transfer contracts totaling 8.306 billion yuan. Sixteen national university科技园 were enhanced, with concept-validation and transfer funds established. "One park, multiple sites" and "multiple schools, one park" models created full-chain services, incubating 3,178 firms. New innovation communities around Shahe and Liangxiang integrated universities with regional development.
Viewing the economy through integrated reform, Beijing's GDP reached 5.20734 trillion yuan in 2025, growing 5.4%, making it China's second 5-trillion-yuan city.
As the "15th Five-Year Plan" begins, prospects are bright. Each morning in Beijing, crowds exit subways heading to work; students bike to classrooms. Their figures vanish among skyscrapers. In the gears of Beijing's education-technology-talent reform, every striving individual writes this city's story.