Xi'an Jiaotong University Initiates the Establishment of the Design Sub-Alliance of the University Alliance of the Silk Road

On April 19, 2023, the Inauguration Ceremony of the Design Sub-Alliance of the University Alliance of the Silk Road (UASR) and the Appointment Ceremony of the Academic Committee of the Joint School of Design and Innovation (JSDI) were held in the Milan Building of the Innovation Harbor Campus of Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU). The Design Sub-Alliance of the UASR was initiated by the JSDI, a joint venture between XJTU and Politecnico di Milano (PDM). Attendees included President Wang Shuguo of XJTU, Academician Liu Jiaping of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Vice President Hong Jun of XJTU, Professor Sergio PIGNARI, the representative of the President of PDM, Liu Keqiang, Deputy General Manager of Shaanxi Automobile Group Holding Co., Ltd., and other experts and scholars from various fields. The meeting was hosted by Professor Yang Shuming, Executive Dean of the JSDI.

On behalf of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Wang Shuguo extended a warm welcome to the guests in attendance. He first introduced the school's mission of "Designing the Future" for the Joint School of Design and Innovation(JSDI). Starting from the industrial anxiety caused by artificial intelligence (AI) across various industries, he delved into the technical and emotional attributes of design. He pointed out that compared to AI, human designers possess a unique ability to focus on human experience and emotional interaction. Designers should not only enhance human intelligence in terms of vision, touch, hearing, and more, but also shoulder the responsibility of inheriting human civilization. Wang Shuguo earnestly exhorted the inaugural undergraduates of the JSDI to have a broad mind, leveraging advanced design concepts and profound humanistic concerns to create works that are human-machine friendly and make significant contributions to world development. He also expressed his hope that the Design Sub-Alliance of the University Alliance of the Silk Road, grounded in the vision of a shared future for mankind, would inherit culture and design the future.