The Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology (BNRist ) was established on November 21, 2017 upon the approval by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China for the purpose of carrying out research on basic theory and disruptive technology in information science, making innovative achievements with global leadership and significant impact, and providing a solid foundation for long-term important strategic projects of information science related to national interests. By the middle of this century, the BNRist will endeavor to become an academic innovation center with international impact, commanding the academic highland in the information field, a discipline leader spearheading interdisciplinary development, a training center of outstanding leading talents, and a scientific communication center and achievement transfer center that serves the major needs of the country with basic research results.
Attached to Tsinghua University, the BNRist builds upon the foundations of the Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology, which started from November 2003. For more than a decade, and in accordance with the founding vision and mission, the Tsinghua National Laboratory had been leveraging its advantages and resources, refining its development goals, and defining key research directions. Measures taken included constructing a dedicated research building, ensuring the university input of independent research funds, adopting the double employment system to recruit key researchers and pioneering special academic zones. Great efforts are made to build first-class research teams. A number of research results had been achieved, winning the first prize of the State Natural Science Award, the first prize of the State Technological Invention Award, and the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award respectively. Dozens of outstanding talents of various types had been recruited and encouraging progress had been made in several important research directions. All these had laid a solid foundation for the construction and development of the BNRist.
The BNRist will continue to be attached to Tsinghua’s information science group supported by seven first-level disciplines: Electronic Science and Technology, Information and Communication Engineering, Computer Science and Technology, Control Science and Engineering, Software Engineering, Cyberspace Security, and Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering. With a focus on 6G communications, new generation artificial intelligence, information security, new generation chips, smart manufacturing and life health, the BNRist will attempt to make breakthroughs and lead the development of information science and technology.
The BNRist has established an organizational structure led by the Dean's office, as well as an Academic Committee and a Construction and Operation Management Committee. By systematically pooling the strength of information discipline clusters, thirteen cross-innovation groups and a number of common technology platforms have been selected and established to tackle problems in core technological research that hinder the country's development, carry out frontier research on basic theory in the field of basic science, build a system platform and lead original innovation. On this basis, addressing major strategic needs and the main battlefield of the national economy, we will carry out key technical research in strategic directions, and form a number of cross-innovation groups with directly affiliated personnel as the mainstay to lead international frontier research. Addressing the major strategic needs of the country and the needs of industrial development, we will collaborate with the relevant research forces of local governments and establish a government-industry-university-research alliance to carry out integrated innovation, develop disruptive application results, and open up new industrial directions.
To support the construction of a science laboratory platform open to the public, the BNRist has set up a platform management division and is planning to build a series of major basic research experiment platforms, including five research platforms: the micro-nano processing platform, the photoelectric device process platform, the scientific and engineering computing platform, the future Internet test platform, and the electromagnetic sensing platform, in efforts to provide an open and shared experimental environment for outstanding scientists. The BNRist will also develop an international innovation environment and implement the appointment system for visiting fellows and the open project system to facilitate academic communication and people-to people exchanges at home and abroad.
Located on the campus of Tsinghua University, the BNRist has its main organizations in the Information Science and Technology building equipped with an excellent academic research environment and advanced research facilities, covering almost two hectares, with a total floor area of 36,000 square meters.
