From September 19 to 21, 2025, the closing ceremony and award presentation of the 7th National College Students' Municipal Environmental AI+ Innovation Practice Ability Competition was successfully held at the Kempinski Hotel Sanya. The event was jointly organized by Harbin Institute of Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai Chengtou Sewage Treatment Co., Ltd., Sanya Development Holdings Co., Ltd., and Beijing Enterprises Water Group Limited.
The closing ceremony and award presentation of the 7th National College Students’ Municipal Environmental AI+ Innovation Practice Ability Competition was attended by several distinguished guests, including Yang Xin, Deputy Secretary-General of the Sanya Municipal People's Government; Zhu Shiqing, Chairman of the Shanghai Environmental Sciences Association; Lu Shuyu, Honorary Chairman of the Shanghai Environmental Sciences Association; Zhang Jinyu, Secretary-General of the Heilongjiang Environmental Protection Industry Association; Zhang Xinping, Party Secretary of the School of Environment at Harbin Institute of Technology; Lu Zhibo, Associate Dean of the College of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tongji University; Feng Chenghong, Associate Dean of the School of Environment at Beijing Normal University; Guan Qingyu, Associate Dean of the College of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Lanzhou University; Zhou Yan, Nanyang Technological University; Dai Yonghua, General Manager of Shanghai Chengtou Sewage Treatment Co., Ltd.; Wang Li Hua, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Chengtou Sewage Treatment Co., Ltd.; Xu Bin, General Manager of Sanya Development Holdings Co., Ltd.; Li Pingxi, Deputy General Manager of Sanya Development Holdings Co., Ltd.; Zheng Yousong, General Manager of Hainan Yufan Dairy Co., Ltd.; Yu Songtao, Chairman of Shanghai Baozhong Environmental Technology Co., Ltd.; and Liu Zhixiao, Chief Engineer of the China Municipal Engineering North China Design and Research Institute. The award ceremony was hosted by Wang Wei, Associate Dean of the School of Environment at Harbin Institute of Technology. The Chairman of the Competition Organizing Committee, Professor Ma Jun of Harbin Institute of Technology and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, delivered a speech for the event.
International Track Gold Award
Undergraduate Track Grand Prize
Industry Track Gold Award
The competition officially launched in June 2025 with the theme 'Smart Future Cities: AI Empowering Green Innovation in Municipal Environments.' Based on the original undergraduate track, the competition introduced new tracks for industry and international participants for the first time, in line with the industry's frontline needs and Sanya's international positioning. This established an 'Academia-Industry-Research-Government-Internationalization' collaborative organizational model, focusing on the national 'Dual Carbon' goals and cutting-edge developments in the smart water industry, promoting the deep integration of AI and municipal environmental sectors.
This year's competition saw unprecedented scale, covering all 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China. A total of 140 universities participated, with 2511 undergraduate students, 183 graduate students, and several international teams actively competing. After the on-site presentations, the final results were announced: the 'Yuxiang Zhizao Team' from Harbin Institute of Technology and 9 other teams won the Grand Prize in the undergraduate track; the 'Huanbao Weilai Team' from Beijing Normal University and 16 other teams won the First Prize in the undergraduate track; and the 'Woyao Qu Sanya Team' from Anhui University of Architecture and 20 other teams won the Second Prize in the undergraduate track.
The 'Tugong Chongxian Team' from Harbin Institute of Technology won the Gold Award in the Industry Track, while the 'Shuzhi Qingyuan Team' from Harbin Institute of Technology and 6 other teams won the First Prize in the Industry Track. The 'Tongji Zhishui AI Team' from Tongji University and 14 other teams won the Second Prize in the Industry Track. In the International Track, Beijing Normal University won the Gold Award, and Harbin Institute of Technology and Tongji University won the First Prize.
The National College Students’ Municipal Environmental AI+ Innovation Practice Ability Competition is centered around cultivating the spirit of craftsmanship for the new era, with a focus on developing a highland for the training of interdisciplinary talents in the municipal environmental field. By building a nationwide innovation practice collaboration network among universities, the competition organically connects the engineering education chain with industry demand, forming a positive ecosystem for the integration of industry and education. Since its inception in 2019, Harbin Institute of Technology, as the founding organizer, has successfully hosted six editions of the competition, with over 3500 faculty and students participating annually. The competition has gradually built an exceptional team of over a thousand instructors and has become one of the largest and most influential academic competitions in China’s municipal and environmental fields. The scale and quality of participation continue to reach new heights, fully demonstrating the powerful capabilities of transforming research outcomes in the municipal environmental disciplines, as well as the unique advantages of promoting education, learning, and practical training through competition.
