On October 18th, the exchange meeting between the Copper Alloy Research Team of Central South University and Hailiang Group Research Institute was successfully held. Dr. Peng Long, Assistant President of Hailiang Group, Assistant President of Hailiang and Dean of Hailiang Group Research Institute, warmly welcomed the team. He facilitated in-depth discussions between the Copper Alloy Research Team of Central South University and relevant personnel from Hailiang Group Research Institute and Zhejiang Keyu Metal Materials Co., Ltd.
Lei Qian, Associate Professor from the Copper Alloy Research Team of Central South University first introduced the research directions and related achievements of the team. The research directions of Professor Li Zhou's team at Central South University include highly corrosion-resistant copper alloys, ultra-high-strength conductive elastic copper alloys, high-strength high-conductivity copper alloys, and special functional materials. The team has trained more than 40 doctoral students and over 100 master's students, published over 300 research papers, and applied for more than 50 national invention patents (of which nearly 40 have been granted). The related research achievements have been applied in approximately 25% of China's listed companies in the field, including Luotong and Aubert. In 2020, the team was awarded the Advanced Collective Prize for Innovation in Nonferrous Metals in China.
Jiang Shaojun, Executive Vice General Manager of Zhejiang Keyu Metal Materials Co., Ltd., Dr. Cui Chao, Deputy Director of the Copper Rod Research Institute at Hailiang Group Research Institute, Technical Advisor Ma Weimin, and Dr. Deng Bin, Director of the Product Research Institute, had in-depth discussions and exchanges with the research team from Central South University on projects including “Technological Development for Rational Utilization of Copper Foam with Special Excessive Elements”, “Low-Carbon Recycled Copper Efficient Utilization Solution”, “Development of New Generation Environmentally-Friendly Easy-Cutting Brass Alloys”, “Development of Micro-Alloyed High-Strength Tough Seamless Inner Thread Copper Tubes”, “Development of Micro-Alloyed High-Strength Tough Small-Caliber Seamless Copper Light Tubes”, as well as “Development and Industrialization of New Technology for Manufacturing Green, Low-Carbon, High-Precision Conductor Materials”. They respectively introduced the current status and technical requirements of the projects, research content, project goals or technical indicators, and proposed cooperation methods. Also, preliminary consensus on cooperation intentions for each project was reached.
Dr. Gao Jingbo, Executive Vice General Manager of Hailiang's HME (China) Alloy Materials Co., Ltd. (preparatory), provided additional explanations for the projects of Zhejiang Keyu Metal Materials Co., Ltd. He extended an invitation to the research team from Central South University to visit Keyu Company for an on-site understanding and to focus on breakthroughs for each project.
Professor Xiaozhu from Central South University provided a summary and evaluation of the collaboration for the projects. He pointed out that projects like “Development of New Generation Environmentally-Friendly Easy-Cutting Brass Alloys” and “Development of Micro-Alloyed High-Strength Tough Seamless Inner Thread Copper Tubes” have a solid foundation for collaboration. Further discussions on project cooperation can be explored in the future.
At last, Dr. Peng Long provided a summary of the exchange meeting. He emphasized that the research institute highly values research collaboration, and this meeting is just the beginning of mutual cooperation. It is important to establish a close working relationship in the future. Research and development not only require open collaboration but also necessitate strengthened risk management and intellectual property protection. The future collaboration model between both parties needs to be determined, and the compliance and completeness of content such as framework agreements will require review. Both sides can engage in strategic cooperation in aspects like talent, topics, and industry development standards, fully leveraging the advantages of university-enterprise collaboration to provide support for research and create benefits for the company.
Hailiang Research Institute attaches great importance to and strengthens research collaboration through activities like university-enterprise exchanges. It has already conducted exchanges with universities such as University of Science and Technology Beijing, Tianjin University, and Central South University. In the future, collaborations with institutions like Tsinghua University will also be pursued. This ongoing effort aims to continually enhance the depth and breadth of research cooperation, fully leveraging the role of the innovation engine, and supporting Hailiang in entering a new stage of development!