Nanjing University President Tan Zhemin Welcomes BMW Group Vice President Bo Yishan and Delegation

On the afternoon of May 31, President Tan Zhemin met with visiting BMW Group Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) Bo Yishan and his delegation at Nanjing University Gulou Campus. The two sides had in-depth exchanges on innovative and entrepreneurial projects in the fields of digitalization and informatization, and talked about the prospects for cooperation. Vice President Lu Yanqing accompanied the meeting.

Tan Zhemin extended a warm welcome to Bo Yishan and his delegation to visit Nanjing University, and introduced the long history, comprehensive strength, educational achievements and future vision of Nanjing University. He said that Nanjing University has established comprehensive international exchange and cooperation relations with more than 200 universities and research institutions in more than 30 countries and regions around the world, including close cooperation with more than 10 first-class German universities such as the University of Munich. The Sino-German Institute of Law and the “Rabe and International Safety Zone Memorial” and other co-construction platforms have also made due contributions to enhancing the exchanges and development between China and Germany. In recent years, Nanjing University has further gathered the momentum of scientific and technological innovation, vigorously strengthened the construction of new engineering disciplines, and continued to deepen the integration of industry and education. It has continuously expanded cooperation with the industry in many technical fields such as electronic information, biology and new medicine, new materials, resources and environment. The “Nanjing University-BMW Lingyue: Quantum Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Project” was also officially signed and launched in November last year. He looks forward to the two sides strengthening linkages in joint laboratories, talent recruitment, doctoral joint training programs and joint research between schools and enterprises to achieve a higher level of two-way and win-win development.

Bo Yishan thanked President Tan Zhemin and Nanjing University for their warm reception. He said that the BMW Group has a history of more than 30 years of development in China and has good cooperation with many well-known Chinese universities. In particular, the BMW Group’s global IT department has been committed to seeking technological innovation and strategic cooperation opportunities in emerging fields such as data AI, quantum computing, network security, and cloud computing. Therefore, Nanjing, which has many higher education institutions and excellent talent reserves, will be an important long-term partner of BMW. Bo Yishan emphasized that Nanjing University’s 122-year long history, the rich achievements of open education, and the creative and outstanding students have left him with a deep and beautiful impression. He hopes to further enhance mutual understanding and expand achievements through the first cooperation project between the two sides, the “Nanjing University-BMW Lingyue” project, and look forward to all-round and in-depth cooperation in information technology in the future.

Relevant leaders and expert representatives from Nanjing University’s International Affairs Office, Industrial Technology Research Institute, School of Physics, Department of Computer Science and Technology and other units attended the meeting.