On 5th June, the inauguration ceremony of Sussex Artificial Intelligence Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University (ZJSU) was held. Gan Wudong, Deputy Secretary of CPC party committee of Education Department of Zhejiang, Jin Yibin, Secretary of CPC party committee of ZJSU, Chen Shoucan, President of ZJSU, Zhao Yingjun, Vice President of ZJSU, representatives from Education Department of Zhejiang, Qiantang New Area Committee, faculties and students of ZJSU attended the ceremony.

Gan Wudong addressed at the ceremony and he said that the establishment of the Institute is an achievement made by Zhejiang in introducing the quality educational resources and carrying out the strategy of ‘Building a Prominent Province via Higher Education’. He wished the AI institute could be built into a high-quality Sino-foreign cooperative educational institute, a high-end innovative talents pool and a high-level innovative research platform, with a view to contributing the development of digital economy in Zhejiang.

Jin Yibin stressed that ZJSU will focus on innovating system and mechanism and draw upon the characteristics and advantages of the two universities, making contributions to the talents cultivation, industrial innovation, digital research empowerment and intellectual support.

Chen Shoucan introduced the basic information about the institute. He pointed that as Sussex’s  only external window for transformation of scientific research achievements in China, the institute would offer strong support to the scientific and innovative cooperation between China and UK.

Peter Kyle, member of Parliament of UK, Adam Tickell, President of University of Sussex, Vivienne Stern, Director of Universities UK International and Alan Robins,Mayor of the city of Brighton & Hove sent the video messages to congratulate the establishment of the institute. They all agree that the institute will strongly promote the exchange and cooperation between China and UK and advance the global research on artificial intelligence. At the same time, Chinese Embassy in the UK, British Embassy in China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Zhejiang University, University of Quebec at Chicoutimi and other institutions and companies all sent the letters of congratulation.

Approved by the Ministry of Education of China,  the Sussex Artificial Intelligence Institute,ZJSU is the first Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run institute of artificial intelligence in China, which offers two bachelor programs in Robotics & Electrical Engineering and Communications Engineering, and two master programs in Robotics & Autonomous Systems and Artificial Intelligence and adaptive systems. It plans to enroll 200 undergraduates and 100 graduates and the first batch of freshmen will be welcomed in September this year.