On August 21, the signing ceremony of the strategic cooperation agreement between SUES and Shanghai International Automobile City (Group) Co., Ltd. was grandly held at the Shanghai International Automobile City Building. Attendees included SUES President Lou Yongqi, Vice President Xia Chunming, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of Jiading District People’s Congress and Chairman of the Jiading District Federation of Trade Unions Lu Qiang, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China EV100 Zhang Yongwei, Shanghai International Automobile City's General Manager Pan Xiaohong and Deputy General Managers Guan Qingping and Chen Jie, among others. The ceremony was hosted by Xu Tingting, General Manager of Shanghai Zhixing Huigu Development Co., Ltd.
President Lou Yongqi pointed out that as the undisputed “source of innovation” in China’s automobile industry, Shanghai International Automobile City’s strategic direction aligns closely with the development positioning of SUES, with highly complementary advantages. This cooperation not only deepens years of collaboration but also marks an important step in implementing SUES’ “tri-rotor strategy” across the disciplines of engineering + management + design. Looking ahead, both parties will focus on three key dimensions—talent cultivation, scientific research and innovation, and platform co-construction—to bear fruitful results and inject strong “SUES momentum” into propelling China’s automobile industry toward the higher end of the global value chain.
Lu Qiang emphasized that the timing of the strategic cooperation between SUES and Shanghai International Automobile City is particularly significant. It is a vivid practice of responding to global transformations in the automobile industry, China’s innovation-driven development strategy, and national policies on industry–education integration. With SUES’ disciplinary strengths and talent resources complementing the industrial foundation and market resources of Automobile City, the partnership will generate strong synergies, and provide new impetus for the development of Shanghai’s and China’s automobile industry.
Zhang Yongwei stressed that automobile design will become the new core of China’s global automotive competitiveness, and industry–education integration provides an effective response to the pressing issue of cultivating design talent. The strategic cooperation between Shanghai International Automobile City and SUES is not only a model of industry–education integration but also a key move in advancing China’s automobile industry from a “technology-driven” to a “design-led” era. Regarding joint projects, he proposed three directions: “building a closed-loop of industry–academia–research–application”, “reshaping the paradigm of design education” and “establishing an authoritative voice in Eastern design.”
At the signing ceremony, Vice President Xia Chunming and General Manager Pan Xiaohong signed the strategic cooperation agreement on behalf of the two parties. Gao Zhu, Dean of School of Art and Design at SUES, and Xu Tingting, General Manager of Shanghai Zhixing Huigu Development Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement at the school level. The signing was witnessed by Lu Qiang, Lou Yongqi, and Zhang Yongwei.
In addition, the ceremony included an appointment ceremony for newly hired professors. As part of its mission to build a world-class application-oriented innovative university, SUES appointed six leading scholars and industry experts in the automobile sector as part-time professors. President Lou Yongqi presented letters of appointment to the representatives.
After the ceremony, the delegation visited Kalman Planet, an enterprise of Shanghai Smart Mobility Design Valley, to gain first-hand experience of Automobile City’s forward-looking design concepts and innovative practices in future mobility.
