Top Honors at the 18th National Innovation Conference

Students from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Tianjin University won the “Best Entrepreneurship Project” award at the 18th National College Students Innovation Annual Conference (NCSIAC), held at Nanjing University, Nanjing, from November 22 to 23.

This marks the second consecutive year the school has claimed the top prize at the event, following last year’s success.

The winning project, titled “Integration of Intelligence and Action – Leading the Future of Robotic Motion Intelligence,” was selected for the entrepreneurial promotion of the conference. After on-site presentations and expert reviews, it was honored as one of  the 12 “Best Entrepreneurship Projects” at this year’s gathering.

The NCSIAC, organized under the guidance of China’s Ministry of Education, is a premier national event showcasing undergraduate innovation. This year’s conference, themed “Boundless Innovation, Surging Momentum,” attracted over 1,200 faculty and student representatives across 28 provincial-level regions and received 1030 commended projects in total.

The award-winning project focuses on dexterous robotic hands for humanoid robots. Developed by a multidisciplinary team under the guidance of Academician Dai Jiansheng and Professor Kang Rongjie, the project features compact, modular, tendon-driven robotic fingers. Utilizing innovative drive and control strategies, the design achieves high flexibility with reduced weight and size, closely mimicking human hand movements.

In recent years, the School of Mechanical Engineering has garnered nearly 200 high-level honors in major national innovation and entrepreneurship competitions. Over half of its graduates have taken up key technical or professional roles in leading state-owned enterprises within sectors such as aerospace, shipbuilding, nuclear energy, and advanced manufacturing.

Looking ahead, the school stated it will continue to deepen educational reform, foster integration between innovation, education, and industry, and contribute to national development goals in science, technology, and modernization.

By: Xiao Chengyu

Editor: Xu Shaohan