On Sept. 21, the Shanghai Nanjing Plus 2024 delegation joined in a series of activities centered around sustainability in Nanjing.

In the morning, the delegation visited Nanjing Iron and Steel Group Company Limited to study the digital and intelligent transformation of the enterprise.

The members first came to Nanjing Iron & Steel Group Co., Ltd. (NISCO) and visited its intelligent operation center, where a big screen two floors high displayed the whole production and logistics process and its control by operators. The delegation learned about NISCO’s promotion of productivity and synergy through digital transformation.

Then they visited the highly automated production line in the Jinrun intelligent manufacturing plant, and devices for treating and reusing waste liquid and scrap steel generated during steel production.

After the visit, the delegation had a deep and frank exchange with management and staff from NISCO. Questions touched on NISCO’s domestic and foreign markets, its targets and practices of carbon emissions, ESG efforts, among other topics raised by the participants.

In the afternoon, the delegation arrived at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC) and attended a forum named “Strategies for Sustainable Development: Perspectives and Prospects in Cooperation Between China and the US.”

The Chinese Co-Director Li Xiaorong warmly welcomed the delegation on behalf of HNC, and American Co-Director Adam Webb chaired the discussion. Some HNC faculty and students also joined.

The forum consisted of three segments, on sustainable development and society, political models and the implications of technology, and constraints and opportunities in the international context.

Both Chinese and American scholars expressed their opinions freely regarding the definitions of sustainability and how it is understood in different countries, the images of China and the U.S. in media reports about sustainability, interaction between technological innovation and different political models, and international competition and cooperation amid the challenges of climate change, among other topics. The audience of current HNC students also has opportunities to raise comments and questions.