Recently, the 7th International Conference on Aerospace Science and Engineering successfully concluded in Pakistan. This three-day conference is hosted by the Institute of Space Technology (IST) and supported by the Government of Pakistan, the Pakistan Higher Education Commission, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Belt and Road Aerospace Innovation Alliance (BRAIA) and other organizations.
Twenty-five experts from more than 20 countries gave keynote speeches at this conference, and more than 50 experts from nearly 35 Pakistani universities and scientific research institutions also shared their research results and progress with the participants.
Prof. Wang Jinsong, President of Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), China, delivered an opening speech online on behalf of the university and Permanent Secretariat of BRAIA, recalling the fruitful cooperation between NPU and the conference host, Institute of Space Technology, Pakistan in recent years. He also said in the speech that NPU and BRAIA will keep deepening the cooperation in aerospace scientific research and talent cultivation with universities and research institutes in the two countries.
The International Conference on Aerospace Science and Engineering was initiated by IST in 2009, and has become one of the most influential international conferences in the aerospace field in Pakistan, attracting scholars and experts from all over the world. Since 2019, BRAIA has served as the supporting organization of the conference for two consecutive sessions.
The cooperation between NPU and Pakistani universities, research institutes can be traced back to many years ago, which has achieved fruitful results. Nowadays, NPU has maintained the close relationship with National Engineering and Scientific Commission and more than ten universities including National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) and IST of Pakistan, etc. As the Permanent Secretariat of BRAIA, NPU has strongly supported NUST to take the leading role in South Asia and become the BRAIA first Regional Development Center. This also demonstrates that Pakistan is one of the important countries that NPU endeavors to collaborate with according to its envisioned global footprint. NPU aims to enhance the competence building for Belt and Road countries and regions based on the consensus achieved and the joint efforts made together with BRAIA and partners in Pakistan.
Aerospace science and technology play a crucial role in promoting human society’s technological progress and improving the well-being of people. For a long time, Pakistan has attached great importance to its development in the aerospace field. It has paid great attention to the application of satellite technology and space science, and has achieved significant progress, which also has strongly promoted Pakistan’s telecommunications, broadcasting, distance education, and medical care, etc., especially benefited the lives of people in remote areas of the country, which greatly contributed to social advancement.
BRAIA established Joint Research Seed Fund Projects in 2020 to encourage and support the multilateral research cooperation. Scholars from IST and NUST respectively set up the joint research teams successfully with multiple BRAIA members from many other countries to work in the fields of micro-satellites, composite materials, aerodynamics and so on. , These joint research teams take seed fund projects as a carrier to promote cooperation between China and Pakistan, make full use of advantages from both countries, to develop high-level talents and produce major scientific research results, with the focus on developing frontier technology and space science. We look forward to further utilizing the respective strengths of China and Pakistan, complementing each other’s advantages, and jointly promoting the rapid development of aerospace science and technology.
For many years, NPU has spared no effort in Pakistani talent cultivation and the competence building. Only in the past three years, NPU has enrolled 15 undergraduates, 176 postgraduates and 134 doctoral candidates in the fields of aeronautics, astronautics, and mechanical engineering, etc. After graduation and returning to Pakistan, many of them have become backbones in related fields.
Looking into the future, NPU will further strengthen cooperation with Pakistani universities and research institutes in fields of scientific research, joint educational institutions, college-enterprise collaboration, etc. to deeply implement the Belt and Road initiative, and contribute strength and intelligence to building an even closer China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future in the new era.
