On the afternoon of September 21, the Tongling Administrative Conference Center was filled with a warm atmosphere as the inaugural founding ceremony and the First General Membership Meeting of the USTC Tongling Alumni Association was grandly held. This grand event pooling resources from the local government and the university has built a platform for USTC alumni in Tongling to communicate and support one another, while serving as a critical link to boost university-local collaborative innovation and industrial upgrading. As one of the three initiators of the alumni association, Gao Jianwei, Chairman of Tongling Jingke Biotechnology, participated in the whole preparatory work and was elected Vice President at the meeting. He will leverage corporate social responsibility to fuel in-depth cooperation between Tongling and the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC).
The conference received high attention from both municipal authorities and USTC. Ma Jun, Member of the Standing Committee of Tongling Municipal Party Committee and Secretary-General, and Shen Chenglong, Member of the Standing Committee of USTC Party Committee and Director of the Organization Department, attended and delivered keynote speeches. Wu Qiang, Vice Mayor of Tongling, presided over the event, which gathered numerous alumni representatives as well as government and enterprise guests to witness the milestone occasion.
At the meeting, on behalf of Tongling Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, Secretary-General Ma Jun extended sincere congratulations on the establishment of the alumni association. He expressed earnest expectations that all alumni would take the founding as a new starting point and give full play to their strengths in expertise, technology and resources to act as city ambassadors, innovation partners and industrial upgrading pioneers for Tongling, engaging more deeply in the city’s construction and offering suggestions for its growth. Meanwhile, he urged the alumni association to serve as an effective liaison to encourage more USTC alumni to learn about Tongling, invest projects and introduce industrial resources to the city. Ma Jun pledged that the municipal government would provide utmost sincerity, optimal business environment and premium services to help alumni start businesses and expand operations in Tongling free from unnecessary worries.
Director Shen Chenglong delivered congratulatory remarks on behalf of USTC. He encouraged the alumni association to rally alumni resources, refine alumni services, pool wisdom to fuel local socioeconomic progress and the university’s development, and build a solid bridge for integrated university-local development.
The assembly voted to confirm the list of directors and supervisors of the First Council and elected the President, Vice Presidents and Secretary-General, alongside the work allocation of Party branch members and appointed advisors for the association. Zhu Sikun was elected President and Gao Jianwei Vice President. On-site cooperation signing was completed between the School of Public Affairs of USTC and Tongling Municipal Bureau of Talent Work, laying a foundation for future university-local talent cooperation and commercialization of scientific research findings.
Following the formal meeting, municipal leaders held an informal forum with council members of the alumni association. During the discussion, Gao Jianwei stated that the positioning of alumni as city ambassadors, innovation partners and industrial pioneers proposed by Secretary-General Ma Jun, as well as Director Shen’s requirement to unite alumni for local and university development, align perfectly with the original aspiration for founding the alumni association. “I feel a heavy sense of responsibility upon being elected Vice President,” said Gao Jianwei. Going forward, he will lead Tongling Jingke Biotechnology to capitalize on the company’s accumulated technological advantages in biomanufacturing, facilitate the industrial transformation of USTC’s research outcomes in Tongling, and attract more USTC alumni to launch careers locally, living up to the trust from municipal and university authorities and contributing substantially to Tongling’s industrial upgrading.
As a key enterprise in Tongling’s biomanufacturing sector, Tongling Jingke Biotechnology consistently prioritizes technology-driven industrial advancement, devoting itself to synthetic biology and the commercialization of scientific achievements. Relying on the alumni association platform, the company will further deepen ties with USTC, take proactive steps in joint talent cultivation and core technology R&D. Such efforts will not only accumulate innovative momentum for its own growth, but also inject Jingke’s strength into fostering Tongling’s innovation ecosystem featuring university-government collaboration and integration of industry and education.
