Introduction

In 2024, the total research funding of the university amounted to RMB 230 million. The funding for research projects also totaled RMB 230 million, including RMB 19.5 million from government-funded (longitudinal research) research projects, over RMB 210 million from industry-funded (horizontal ) projects, and RMB 1.0752 million from other sources. A total of 791 research projects of the university were approved, comprising 13 national-level projects (including 3 transferred to the university), 49 provincial and ministerial-level projects, 65 municipal and bureau-level projects, 521 horizontal research projects (including 84 projects valued at over RMB 1 million each), and 114 university-level research planning projects. In 2024, the university secured the approval of 14 national-level projects. In addition, faculty members won two provincial and ministerial government awards (Professor Hu Fengjun and Professor Lu Yin each received the Third Prize of Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award).

In 2024, the faculty of the university published 745 papers in various academic journals, of which 477 were indexed by SCI and SSCI (including 9 ESI Hot or Highly Cited Papers), 30 were published in Zhejiang University First-Tier journals, 20 were theoretical articles in Social Sciences in China (Newspaper), 49 were indexed by EI (including 44 journal articles), 6 by CSSCI, 17 by Zhejiang University Core journals, and 12 by Peking University Core journals. In 2024, the university received 4 achievement awards by social forces and above, including two Third Prizes of Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Progress for which university faculty were the first persons to complete and the university was the primary affiliation. Furthermore, 22 academic monographs were published by first-tier presses; 51 invention patents were granted, with 9 patents commercialized; 19 utility model patents were granted; and 216 software copyrights were registered. Forty-one research achievements received instructions from leaders at provincial/ministerial level and above.

Currently, the university has 9 provincial and ministerial-level research institutions, which are respectively the Zhejiang Provincial Research Center for Modern Service Industry; the Center for Country and Regional Studies of the Ministry of Education (Belarus Research Center); the International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for Remote Sensing Image Processing and Applications; the Key Laboratory of Pollution Exposure and Health Intervention of Zhejiang Province; the Center for Innovation and Development of Ideological and Political Education in Higher Education Institutions of the Ministry of Education; the Zhejiang-Netherlands Joint Laboratory of Digital Diagnosis and Treatment of Oral Diseases; the Provincial Key Laboratory of Artificial Organs and Computational Medicine; the Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Research Center for Smart Health Public Services; and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Whole-Process Monitoring and Green Governance of Emerging Pollutants. In addition, there are 37 university-level research institutions.

The university has been actively expanding its external cooperation and exchanges, and comprehensively deepening its cooperation with the local government and enterprises of Shaoxing. Following the establishment of the “Zhejiang Shuren University Keqiao Sci-Tech Innovation Center”, three research institutes, including one focused on the digital economy, were set up, and eight research teams were formed. Fifty young doctors and high-level talents at or above provincial level were selected from newly introduced talent and assigned to work at the innovation center. The proportion of individuals who registered for social insurance in Shaoxing for the first time as young doctors met the required standards. The center facilitated the transformation or industrialization of 14 key product outcomes, far exceeding the set targets. It also signed agreements with 22 technology enterprises in Keqiao District, securing funding totaling RMB 11.059 million, thereby contributing to enhanced efficiency for these enterprises. Additionally, the center dispatched 30 doctors to provide services to enterprises and communities, among others, and conducted training sessions for over 1,300 participants, fulfilling its social service responsibilities. In 2024, 521 horizontal projects were approved, and the received funding for such projects exceeded RMB 210 million, setting a new record in the university’s history.

The university has continued to strengthen collaborative partnerships with government agencies, enterprises, and research institutions. It dispatched six cultural and technological commissioners, including Jin Jinbiao, Zheng Guiyu, Ye Qin, Zhang Xinghai, Shao Yabin, and Lu Qinghai, to provide grassroots services and guidance in counties and districts of Wenzhou, Jinhua, and Shaoxing. These efforts aim to deepen industry-university-research integration and promote the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements.

While consolidating existing forms of support, the university has been actively exploring new approaches to assistance. It partnered with Sanzhou Township in Tiantai County to establish a common prosperity workshop and carried out field research for pairing assistance. Site visits were made to the agricultural products trading market and tea planting base in Sanzhou Township. The university also participated in the “Teaching in the Cloud, Learning on the Ground” New Farmer Training, which included the inaugural session for Hehe tea farmers, and presented books as part of the “Three Teams Enriching Sanzhou” training initiative. A series of activities were launched, such as applications for new tea tree varieties and research on the inheritance, innovation and development of historical classic tea industry, fully leveraging the role of the Tea Doctor Innovation Workshop in innovation-driven development.

Over the past year, the university and its schools have actively organized academic lectures and exchange activities through both online and offline formats. A total of 68 academic lectures were held across the university, featuring more than 130 domestic and international experts, scholars, and internal project directors for exchanges and mentoring. To enhance the success rate of applications for high-level research projects, the Office of Research Affairs repeatedly invited external experts to host specialized training sessions on applying for national and provincial and ministerial-level projects. These efforts significantly boosted the application enthusiasm among faculty members, strongly promoted technological innovation and the achievement transformation of research outcomes, enriched the academic research atmosphere on campus, and greatly advanced communication, interaction, and collaboration between the university and external institutions.

In 2024, 60 articles in humanities and social sciences (across 6 issues) were published, totaling 800,000 characters, and 53 articles in natural sciences (in issues 1 to 4), totaling 350,000 characters. 1. The academic quality of the journal has noticeably improved. According to the Annual Report on Impact Factors of Chinese Academic Journals (Humanities & Social Sciences 2024 Edition) released by China Academic Journal (CD Edition) Electronic Publishing House and the China Scientometrics and Bibliometrics Research Center, the journal’s composite impact factor reached 1.152, reflecting an increase of 6.37% and 48.45% compared to the 2023 and 2022 editions, respectively. The five-year composite impact factor was 0.806, up by 15.63% and 40.42% compared to the 2023 and 2022 editions. The total citation frequency reached 664, marking a growth of 2.63% and 6.75% over 2023 and 2022, respectively. Growing industry influence in the academic community. In March 2024, the official WeChat account of Southern Weekly cited the opinions in the article “International Experience and Chinese Path of Establishing High-Level Private Universities by First-Class Enterprises” (Author: Wang Yitao), published in Issue 3 of the journal in 2022, in its post “Wang Shuguo Appointed as President of Fuyao University of Science and Technology: Cao Dewang Welcomes the Third President”. In May 2024, it hosted the Sixth Executive Council Meeting of the Ninth National Research Association of Humanities and Social Sciences University Journals and the Forum on High-Quality Development of Humanities and Social Sciences Journals. The event was attended by nearly a hundred experts and scholars from over 70 academic journals of humanities in colleges and universities, two-thirds of which are recognized as CSSCI (Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index) publications, and was highly commended by the society’s leadership and participating experts. In November 2024, in the Eighth National Evaluation of Outstanding University Social Science Journals organized by the National Research Association of Humanities and Social Sciences Journals in Colleges and Universities, the journal was recognized as one of eight organizations making outstanding contributions.