CAST holds seminar on quality infrastructure services

A seminar on quality infrastructure serving sci-tech innovation, a side event of the 25th Annual Meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), was held by the CAST and Anhui Provincial People's Government in Hefei, capital city of East China's Anhui province, on October 23.

With the theme of "Science and Technology Innovation: Towards the Future," the seminar was undertaken by China Inspection and Testing Society (CITS), National Institute of Metrology (NIM), the Chinese Society for Measurement (CSM) and China Association for Standardization (CAS). It aimed to build a platform for academicians, experts, entrepreneurs, investors, international sci-tech agencies and sci-tech associations to engage in exchanges and collaboration and share experience in the promotion of sci-tech innovation via the development of quality infrastructure.

Photo taken on Oct 23 shows the opening ceremony of the seminar on quality infrastructure serving sci-tech innovation.

Photo taken on Oct 23 shows attendees at the opening ceremony of the seminar on quality infrastructure serving sci-tech innovation.

The opening ceremony was presided over by Sheng Fei, executive chair of the seminar and executive vice-president of the CITS. Ma Chuanxi, vice-chairman of the Anhui Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Xu Guanghong, deputy director-general of the CAST Sci-tech Innovation Department, Yao Lei, deputy director-general of Certification Supervision and Management Department in the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), Frank Härtig, vice-president of Germany's National Metrology Institute, and Pu Changcheng, chair of the seminar and chairman of the CSM, addressed the opening ceremony.

It’s widely accepted that the fast development of high-level measurement, standardization, certification, recognition, inspection and testing services will further promote sci-tech innovation and play an important role in achieving sci-tech self-reliance and advancement contributing to Chinese modernization.

Sheng Fei, executive chair of the seminar and executive vice-president of the China Inspection and Testing Society, presides over the opening ceremony.

Frank Härtig, vice-president of Germany's National Metrology Institute, addresses the opening ceremony via video link.

Pu Changcheng, chair of the seminar and chairman of the Chinese Society for Measurement, addresses the opening ceremony.

Ma Aiwen, vice-chairman and secretary-general of the Chinese Society for Measurement, chairs the thematic report session of the seminar.

Wang Haizhou, Ren Fazheng and Liu Wenqing, three academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, address the seminar.

A collage photo shows Scott Steedman, secretary-general of the British Standards Institution, Yu Xinli, chairperson of the China Association for Standardization, Hanane Taidi, secretary-general of the Testing Inspection Certification (TIC) Council, and Kilian Aviles, vice-president of DEKRA and head of DEKRA China, attending the seminar in person or via video link.

Ma Aiwen, vice-chairman and secretary-general of the CSM, chaired the thematic report session. Wang Haizhou, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), gave a report titled "Strengthening the Building of Quality Infrastructure for Sci-tech Innovation." Ren Fazheng, a CAE academician, spoke about the closer ties between nutrition and human health in his report. Liu Wenqing, also a CAE academician, delivered a report on the development and application of environmental optical monitoring technologies.

Scott Steedman, secretary-general of the British Standards Institution, Yu Xinli, chairperson of the CAS, Hanane Taidi, secretary-general of the Testing Inspection Certification (TIC) Council, and Kilian Aviles, vice-president of DEKRA and head of DEKRA China, also delivered their reports.

Ma Xiuchun, vice-chairman and secretary-general of China Association for Standardization, chairs professional report session of the seminar.

A collage photo shows speakers at the professional report session.

Ma Xiuchun, vice-chairman and secretary-general of the CAS, chaired the professional report session of the seminar. Speakers at the session included Xiong Xiangchuang, a Ph.D. holder with NIM; Xiao Jianhua, former president of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Network on Quality Infrastructure (INetQI); Mark Quillinan, general-manager of AHK Nanjing Jinli Testing Co., Ltd.; Li Aixian, vice-president of the CAS; Kong Xiangyue, general-manager of China Certification & Inspection Co., Ltd; You Fang, head of the Department for Industrial Standards in Huawei Technologies; Xue Xianghui, a professor with the University of Science and Technology of China; and Zhou Jungui, president of Nanjing Institute of Product Quality Inspection (Nanjing Institute of Quality Development and Advanced Technology Application). They gave various reports on the importance and typical cases of the development of measurement, standardization, inspection and testing, certification and accreditation to facilitate the commercialization of sci-tech results and advance the building of modern services industry.

Photo taken on Oct 23 shows speakers at the seminar.

Xia Yang, vice-chairman and secretary-general of CITS, presided over the roundtable session. Ten experts from sci-tech associations, industrial alliances, sci-tech services platforms, digital organizations, research institutions and enterprises held talks over the development philosophies, institutional building and pragmatic results in the pursuit of the integration between enterprises and universities, reaching a broad consensus.

To further promote the cross-sector integration between innovation entities across the entire board in such fields as administrative departments, enterprises, universities, inspection agencies, research institutions, and services firms, the attendees kicked off a "Production-Education-Inspection-Research" module under the "Science and Innovation China" platform, which was designed to create a services matching platform for sci-tech workers and relevant enterprises and build a team of technical managers adept at exploring enterprise needs.