Recently, the national finals of the 2024 "Belt and Road" and BRICS Skills Development and Technology Innovation Competition - Innovation Method Application Competition were held in Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, with two teams from NEU achieving remarkable success. The undergraduate group winners included a first-prize team comprising Jiayu Li, Tianmeng Sun, and Jinghan Zhang from the School of Information Science and Engineering at NEU, and a second-prize team comprising Jingjing Bai, Lin Du, and Xianghao Fu from the School of Metallurgy. Besides, Dongsheng Yang and Mingxiu Lin from the School of Information Science and Engineering, Cuilan Zhu from the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Yonggang Fan from the School of Metallurgy were recognized as outstanding instructors.
The BRICS Skills Development and Technology Innovation Competition is an international competition recognized by the preparatory committee for the 2017 BRICS Leaders' Summit, registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, and approved by the BRICS Business Council. In China, the competitions under the BRICS Competition are collectively referred to as the "Belt and Road" and BRICS Skills Development and Technology Innovation Competition. After seven sessions of development and refinement, the "Belt and Road" and BRICS Skills Development and Technology Innovation Competition has been included in the competition directory of the University Student Competition Analysis Report by the China Association of Higher Education.
The Innovation Methods Event includes multiple tracks such as the student group (vocational colleges, undergraduate), enterprise group, and teacher group. Each university allowed a maximum of two entries in the student group. The preliminary competition involves a defense and evaluation based on submitted projects, while the finals are conducted through theoretical examinations, innovative software hands-on testing, on-site problem-solving, and roadshow presentations. The competition mainly assesses participants' understanding of innovative theoretical knowledge, problem-solving using innovative thinking, and technical application capabilities. After the preliminary round, 27 undergraduate teams from universities across the country competed intensely in the finals. Ultimately, four first prizes, seven second prizes, eleven third prizes, and five excellence awards were granted nationwide. The two projects recommended by NEU won awards, achieving outstanding national rankings of fourth and seventh, thus earning one first prize and one second prize respectively.
