On the afternoon of September 15, Virginie Maillard, Head of Siemens Technology US Region and Head of Technology Field Simulation and Digital Twin at Siemens Technology, Matthieu Worm, Senior Principal Key Expert at Siemens Technology, and Ling Fu, Principal Key Expert/PhD at Siemens Technology China, led a delegation to visit MSE (School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, HUST) and inspected the HUST–Siemens Research Center of Digital Twin. Professor Gao Liang, the Director of the center, Professor Li Xinyu, Vice Dean of the School of Mechanical Science and Engineering at our university, Associate Professor Akhil Garg, and Lecturer Zhang Chunjiang were among those participating in the exchange event.

At the HUST–Siemens Research Center of Digital Twin, researchers of HUST introduced Siemens experts to the research and innovative achievements of Siemens Corporate Technology China’s Digital Twin Team in the areas of digital twin intelligent applications, mixed reality, and virtual sensors, engaging in in-depth discussions on topics of interest to Siemens experts. Subsequently, a meeting was held in which Professor Li Xinyu introduced MSE's basic information, talent cultivation, key research achievements, and international collaborations in different fields to Siemens experts. Lecturer Zhang Chunjiang presented the development history of the HUST–Siemens Research Center of Digital Twin, shared the center's research themes in four aspects: simulation & algorithm collaborative optimization, discrete manufacturing shop floor production & operation management, structural topology optimization, and humanoid robots; and he displayed collaborative research outcomes. The Ph.D. students from MSE and Siemens Corporate Technology China’s researcher Xu Weifeng gave detailed presentations on the above research topics. The participating experts highly praised the research progress achieved by the HUST–Siemens Research Center of Digital Twin and engaged in multiple rounds of questions and discussions regarding the topics including practical applications of research outcomes, environmental protection, and sustainability topics.

After the meeting, the attendees visited the Center for Practice Innovations of Huazhong University of Science and Technology together.

The HUST–Siemens Research Center of Digital Twin was established on November 17, 2021, with the aim of promoting the dissemination and application of digital twin technology through HUST's research resources and strength, and realizing Siemens' development philosophy of "making technology work for us."

Written by: Tian Pei, Zhang Yiheng

Edited by: Chang Wen, Peng Yumeng