Master Lecture: Prof.Li Zexiang

On May 9th 2023, we take a tour to Tesla Chongqing

On September 22, 2022, National Elite Institute of Engineering, Chongqing University, in order to improve students’ literacy and develop their vision, held the first phase of the Excellence Master Lecture Series, this lecture specially invited Professor of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the initiator of Shenzhen Institute of Science and Technology , Director and Professor of Automation Technology Center, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Advisor to the President of Hunan University, Adjunct Professor Li Zexiang, Chairman of Changsha Intelligent Driving Research Institute, Chairman of GoogolTech (Hong Kong) Limited, Chairman of XBot Park, and Chairman of DJI. The lecture was mainly held in the form of a forum, and the lecture was climaxed at the beginning, and teachers and students of the School of Excellence in Engineering kept asking questions to Professor Li for exchange. All teachers and students of the School of Excellence in Engineering participated in this lecture.

In response to most of the students’ curiosity about the reasons and stories behind Professor Zexiang Li’s nurturing of a large number of hard-tech companies, initiating innovation in the robotics industry, leading students to start their own businesses, and Professor Li’s past experiences. Starting from his own rich experience, Prof. Li Zexiang elaborated on his study, research, teaching and entrepreneurial journey from South China Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Carnegie Mellon University, University of California at Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and then to Goodco, DJI and Songshan Lake Robotics Industry Base to answer everyone’s curiosity.

In 2021, Prof. Li Zexiang and Chongqing Liangjiang New Area jointly initiated the establishment of Mingyuehu International Intelligent Industry Science and Innovation Base to explore the deep integration of hard technology innovation and entrepreneurship with new engineering education. The students were also very curious about why Mr. Li chose to come to Chongqing to build such a business park and chose to build an industrial science and innovation incubation base here and introduce the XBOTPARK robot tribe. Professor Li Zexiang responded that Chongqing had shouted the slogan of “robotics capital” 11 years ago, and with continuous efforts, it has gradually developed into one of the important robotics industry gathering areas in China in recent years, and started to move towards the “global robotics capital”. “The government and young people in the city have a strong commitment to the development of robotics. At the same time, the government and young people here have a great vision to devote themselves to the field of robot science and technology innovation, and Chongqing has a very good cultivation soil and supporting system, as well as government policy support, and a group of like-minded people cohesion here, including himself is very fond of this piece of land in Chongqing, so he chose to come here and two new river district government jointly initiated the establishment of the Mingyuehu International Intelligent Industry Science and Innovation Base.

In addition to the questions from the students, the teachers also asked Prof. Li Zexiang about the establishment of the National Excellent Engineer to cultivate talents for the new engineering education. In this regard, Prof. Li Zexiang answered this question through his own teaching experience and experience in neo-engineering education for many years, saying that theory cannot be separated from practice, and practice should also be based on theory. Engineering consciousness is a comprehensive ability, including hands-on ability, design thinking, critical thinking, theoretical foundation, learning ability, understanding of the whole engineering process, etc., which needs to be acquired through continuous practice and training. Professor Li Zexiang deeply analyzed the reform experiences of American technology enterprises and major universities in the field of new engineering education as well as some famous cases of current new engineering education reform, and shared his thoughts and experiences on new engineering education with the audience by combining his own practice in industry.

In addition to the first time, Prof. Li Zexiang gave patient and detailed answers to all kinds of questions raised by teachers and students. This lecture not only let the students of the Academy of Distinguished Engineers understand the career history of Prof. Li Zexiang, but also developed their own vision and ideas, and all teachers and students once again deepened their understanding of the new engineering education and triggered certain thinking.