Eight experts in Jiangsu were newly elected as academicians this year, according to Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology. All are long-serving researchers at national or provincial key labs. Such result highlights the vital role of Jiangsu’s key lab system in nurturing innovation talent.

The exciting news was announced on November 21. Among the eight newly elected academicians (six to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and two to the Chinese Academy of Engineering), six are from national key labs led by Jiangsu, including Chen Yanfeng from the National Laboratory of Solid Microstructures, Zheng Yuping from the National Key Laboratory of Technology and Equipment for Power Grid Operation Risk Control, Zhou Zhihua from the State Key Laboratory for Novel Software Technology, Hong Wei from the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Zhu Maoyan from the State Key Laboratory of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, and Fang Qin from State Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation of Explosion and Impact. The other two are Shi Yi from Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Semiconductors and High Energy Efficiency Devices, and Hu Zhenqi from Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Clean Utilization of Carbon Resources.

Jiangsu is now leading the development of 44 national key labs, a big leap from 31 labs in 2023. The city also contributes to the development of 36 other national key labs. In addition, Jiangsu is now in the process of restructuring its provincial key labs, with the first batch of 63 already completed.

This recent election brings the number of academicians affiliated with Jiangsu-led national key labs and restructured provincial key labs to over 70, 60% of the total number of academicians in the province.