Our Rector’s Visit to China Focused on Research and Innovation

ITU Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, accompanied by a delegation led by Minister of Health Prof. Dr. Kemal Memişoğlu, examined centers, infrastructures, and facilities in China dedicated to innovative health technologies. Speaking at the opening of the 2025 International Forum on Innovative Talents and Engineering Education, Prof. Dr. Mandal met with NICE executives as part of the preparations for the 2026 WAITRO Summit, which will be hosted by ITU.

ITU Rector Prof. Dr. Mandal, together with the delegation led by Minister of Health Prof. Dr. Kemal Memişoğlu, carried out comprehensive visits in China focused on innovative health technologies. The delegation visited and evaluated biotechnology centers, production infrastructures for advanced imaging devices, and vaccine facilities, and observed the ongoing work at the Beijing E-Town Biopharmaceutical Park (BioPark) in Beijing. Within the scope of the visits, which included extensive consultations on digitalization in healthcare, R&D, and innovation, Prof. Dr. Mandal stated that ITU, with its interdisciplinary research infrastructure and strong ecosystem, will continue to support Türkiye’s goals in health technologies and play an active role in international collaborations in this field.

Conference focused on global developments and collaboration in engineering education

The 2025 International Forum on Innovative Talents and Engineering Education, hosted by the National Innovation Centre par Excellence (NICE) and organized in collaboration with the University of Birmingham and Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI), was held on September 10, 2025, in Shanghai, China.

Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, as ITU Rector and President of WAITRO, expressed his pleasure in delivering the opening speech of the 2025 International Forum on Innovative Talents and Engineering Education. He noted that the conference reminded them of the responsibility to rethink how education can adapt to transformations while building ecosystems that integrate R&D and talent development processes.

Our Rector emphasized that individual achievements alone are not sufficient to solve the problems caused by increasingly complex environmental, economic, social, and geopolitical risks. He highlighted the necessity of interdisciplinary approaches; integrating social and human sciences with engineering disciplines, strengthening international collaborations, and implementing models of learning and development together.

Prof. Dr. Mandal cited project teams formed by students from different disciplines and cultures at ITU as examples of future engineering education. He stated that these teams create great value through processes of learning from one another, a culture of co-creation, and a sense of shared responsibility. He emphasized that ITU continues to deepen its ecosystem approach that integrates education, research, and innovation, drawing strength from its 252-year legacy, and strives to educate students as individuals who produce solutions, take responsibility, and create impact against future global risks.

The event, attended by 150 delegates including senior representatives from 50 prestigious universities from countries such as Türkiye, China, the United Kingdom, the USA, France, Australia, South Africa, and Singapore, served as a platform for universities, industry, research institutes, and policy-making institutions to share their insights and best practices. Participants engaged in fruitful exchanges of ideas on solutions through work-integrated learning, interdisciplinary approaches, and global collaboration. Innovative strategies and scalable solutions were shared in parallel sessions focused on the following three main themes: “Future Industry-oriented Transformation of Engineering Education,” “The New AI-driven Paradigm of Engineering Education,” and “Cultivating Engineering Talents for Future Challenges through Co-op Education.”

Countdown to the 2026 WAITRO Summit at ITU

On September 10, Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal met with NICE executives as part of the preparations for the 2026 WAITRO Summit, which will be hosted by ITU under the auspices of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO), chaired by Prof. Dr. Mandal. Emphasizing that ITU’s hosting of the event aligns with its vision as a “research university focused on responsibility and impact,” Prof. Dr. Mandal stated that the 2026 WAITRO Summit will bring the global research and innovation ecosystem together with the campus of ITU, a WAITRO member.

The meeting addressed strategic areas of collaboration and potential contributions to the global research and innovation ecosystem. Discussions explored how synergy could be created in joint initiatives by combining the innovative business model of NICE (National Innovation Center par Excellence), which promotes science- and technology-based regional development, with ITU’s long-standing expertise, international networks, and technology-oriented research ecosystem.

As part of his engagements in China, our Rector also visited Tsinghua University and the North China Institute of Science and Technology (NCIST) to strengthen academic collaborations.