The CAMPUS Asia Plus program, jointly applied by Hangzhou Dianzi University (HDU), the University of Yamanashi, Pukyong National University, and UniMAP, was launched officially on March 17, 2022. Professors and students from the four universities and experts from the sector of artificial intelligence (AI) gathered online to discuss cutting-edge technologies and talent cultivation in AI. Zhu Zefei, President of HDU, attended and addressed the opening ceremony, and Vice President Zheng Ning hosted the Chinese forum. The staff of the International Office, HDU, and representatives of professors and students from the School of Computer Science, HDU, attended the opening ceremony and the international forum.

At the opening ceremony, presidents of the four universities delivered speeches showing their vigorous support and good expectations for the program. Zhu Zefei extended warm congratulations on the program launch, saying that the program will serve as a good platform for the four universities to strengthen close cooperation and AI talent cultivation, so as to ensure resource building and sharing among the education sectors, governments, and industries of the four countries for mutual learning and connectivity. Zhu added that the COVID-19 pandemic brought not only challenges to the program, but also opportunities and innovation. He hoped that professors and students could learn from each other different cultures through knowledge and ideas exchange, seek self-improvement from it, and work hard to become important contributors and pioneers in Asia’s AI development in the future. Zhu also hoped that the four universities make concerted efforts, cooperate closely, and overcome all possible difficulties to advance the CAMPUS Asia Plus program and build a better future for Asia.

In the following international forum, AI experts invited by the four universities delivered keynote speeches and answered questions. The speeches focus on “AI and Futurology,” “AI for the Future Generation and Practical Applications,” “Robot: Global Issues and Trend,” and “AI Application in Intel’s Plants.” Graduates from the four universities held an online workshop, where they discussed in groups the applications of AI in healthcare, smart factory, education, e-commerce, lifestyle, human resources, robot, and agriculture, among other sectors, and presented their discussion results. Then, AI experts from businesses, the AI sector, and the academia explored ways to promote Asian student exchanges in the era of AI, and proposed such suggestions as strengthening cooperation, practices, and training, and improving foreign language proficiency.

CAMPUS Asia Plus program is a government-led initiative to promote exchanges and cooperation with quality assurance among universities in China, Japan, and the ROK, especially promoting student mobility, based on the Trilateral Summit Meeting among the three countries. Last November, the program “Asian AI Application-oriented Talent Nurturing Scheme: Educational AI Program for Solving Practical Issues,” jointly applied by HDU and universities from Japan, the ROK, and Malaysia, was approved as part of theCAMPUS Asia Mode 3. The program launch ceremony carefully prepared by the four universities will make the cooperation closer and more profound. In the future, the four universities will, based on the program, make the most of their resource advantages, practice innovation in jointly nurturing AI talents, and work together to explore new types of international cooperation, so as to enhance the overall competitiveness in the field of AI, and promote shared economic development and prosperity in Asia.