USTC, Hefei develop in cooperation

Since 1970, when the University of Science and Technology of China was relocated to Hefei, capital of Anhui province, it has developed in symbiosis with the lakeside city.

During the past 50 years, USTC has worked hand in hand with Hefei, and jointly promoted the agglomeration of multidisciplinary advancement, the cultivation of top scientists and first-class innovative teams, in addition to high-tech industries. This nurturing has helped to promote Hefei's gradual growth from being a small city with a weak industrial foundation to an innovative hub known at home and abroad.

USTC has also become a major source of scientific and technological innovation in Hefei, a strong magnet for innovative talents, and a pillar for the city's high-quality development.

A large number of innovative achievements at the university have been commercialized into industries in Hefei, with intelligent voice and quantum information becoming the city's strategic emerging industries with unique core competitiveness.

This joint development has not only elevated Hefei's level of science and education, but also promoted its urban development, thus enhancing the status of Hefei and even Anhui in the nation's innovation landscape.

USTC has joined with Hefei, elevating the city's level of science and education advancement.

In September 1958, Hefei was designated by the central authorities as the capital city of Anhui.

In the same year, USTC was established in Beijing. No one imagined the two could come together in 1970, ushering in the prosperous advancement of the two side by side during the past 50 years.

Ever since then, the scientific and educational level in Hefei has been greatly improved, laying a solid foundation for its expansion into a science and education base as well as an innovative highland.

USTC was the first national-level higher-education and scientific research unit to be relocated to Hefei in the 1970s. Before 1970, there were only three universities in Hefei: Anhui University, Hefei University of Technology and Anhui Medical College.

By the mid-1980s, Hefei had become an area with concentrated science and education resources in the central and western regions. It was also the city with the largest number of national science projects outside Beijing.

USTC and Hefei developed side by side during the past 50 years and they have become a role model in China in the joint advancement of a university within a city. With its unique innovative advantages, USTC has contributed wisdom and strength to every key development of Hefei.

During the past 50 years, the university and the city have embraced each other for win-win advancement. World-leading information technology company iFlytek has helped the "China Speech Valley" at Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone net a sales volume of over 100 billion yuan ($14.2 billion) this year. Meanwhile, the listing of QuantumCTek Co, China's first listing in quantum communications, is allowing Hefei to embark on quantum information industrial development.

During the past 50 years, USTC has served Hefei's regional economic development by transferring its innovative technology into social productivity. Hefei's intelligent speech and quantum information have grown into strategic emerging industries with unique core competitiveness in China.

The USTC Institute of Advanced Technology, co-developed by CAS, Anhui province, Hefei and USTC, has incubated 264 enterprises since its inception in 2012, among which 51 have become national-level high-tech enterprises.

On Sept 21, 2018, when USTC celebrated the 60th anniversary of its establishment, Li Jibing, secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, noted that USTC is not only a university dedicated to the world and China, but also a university cherished by Anhui.

The province has always highly valued USTC and depended on it for further development.