An elevated view of iHarbor.

In late January, the prestigious academic journal Science published online a breakthrough achievement by researchers from Xi'an Jiaotong University and the Y-Lab. This research reports a "super piezoelectric ceramic system" which has led to a more than 10-fold improvement in the piezoelectric coefficient — a crucial performance metric — of traditional, cost-effective polycrystalline ceramics.

The "super piezoelectric ceramics" enable stable operation at peak performance and aid in ultra-efficient, ultra-sensitive conversion between mechanical force and electricity.

This innovation holds the potential to significantly advance futuristic applications, such as bee-sized drones for reconnaissance, a virtual reality world with realistic haptic feedback, surgical robots capable of operating within blood vessels and a new generation of B-ultrasound capable of detecting early cellular pathological changes. This opens up unprecedented possibilities for miniaturization and precision in intelligent manufacturing and biomedical engineering.

In the same month, Science also featured another groundbreaking study by researchers from XJTU's School of Physics, titled Molecular Press Annealing Enables Roboust Perovskite Solar Cells. This milestone represents a significant advancement in perovskite material research and device physics, a field actively pursued worldwide for its potential to reshape the renewable energy landscape with low-cost, high-efficiency photovoltaic solutions.

Perovskite photovoltaic materials have set new benchmarks in power generation efficiency, offering high performance at low manufacturing costs, and are thus regarded as promising candidates for next-generation solar cells.

These two landmark achievements underscore XJTU's robust scientific research capabilities and continuous innovation. Committed to advancing global sci-tech frontiers, addressing major national strategic and economic needs and improving public health, the university has enhanced its capacity for scientific and technological innovation.

Since the relocation from Shanghai to Xi'an in 1956, XJTU has achieved over 100 pioneering deeds in scientific research both nationally and internationally, securing a leading role in scientific advancement.

Notable accomplishments include establishing China's first institute of engineering thermophysics; programs in steam turbine engineering, automobile manufacturing, refrigeration and cryogenics, compressor, and energy storage; China's first large general-purpose electronic computer and China's first digital processing chip with independent intellectual property rights; and the twin-shear unified strength theory, the first of its kind in the world.

XJTU has spearheaded major scientific installations and platforms, such as the National Medical Center.

Moreover, XJTU has been approved to develop national industry-education integration innovation platforms for energy storage technology, artificial intelligence and medical research. Its scientific research achievements have been integral to key national projects such as the Chang'e-5 lunar exploration mission, the development of large aircraft, and smart energy initiatives.

Many of its accomplishments have been recognized among China's "Top 10 Scientific Advances" and "Top 10 Scientific Advances in Higher Education Institutions", as well as the top 10 scientific and technological advances in key national industries.

XJTU has been designated by the Ministry of Education to establish one of the first batch of key laboratories of philosophy and social sciences and boasts an innovation team in philosophy and social sciences. It is also base for foreign-related rule of law research, with one of its think tanks ranked among the top 100 "A plus" category of the Chinese Think Tank Index.

To integrate sci-tech innovation resources, XJTU has launched the"6352" Industry-Education Integration Innovation Project. The project is aimed at promoting the integration of six resources — government, industry, university, research, application sectors and finance — at iHarbor. XJTU has established three schools (incubators/research centers) for development in modern industry, future technology, and international cooperation. It also built five ecosystems integrating policy, finance, supporting facilities, legal services and general services, and created two platforms for achievement trading and venture capital investment.

XJTU has implemented a new model featuring "one center, one incubator, two chains and one shared platform (1121)", so as to explore closer collaboration between industries, universities and research institutes. "One center" means XJTU encourages and helps enterprises to build up a joint research and development center at iHarbor where enterprise-driven demands, investments, management and technology commercialization are placed as top priorities. "One incubator" means establishing a technological and business incubator with big enterprises by leveraging capital, seed funds and angel funds. Financial capital is also introduced to encourage large enterprises to support small and micro businesses in order to cultivate new, high-quality growth drivers, thus achieving the "two chains". "One shared platform" means building the shared platform for introducing, supporting and employing top-notch overseas talents through the joint effort of universities, enterprises and governments.

To date, XJTU has signed agreements with 255 leading enterprises to jointly establish research institutes or research centers and has formed 100 deeply integrated university-enterprise innovation consortia. It has resolved 3,124 key technical challenges for enterprises, injecting impetus into the high-quality development of the national economy.

In addition, the university has introduced 477 seed angel funds and 390 financial institutions, registered and incubated 281 tech startups, and transferred and licensed over 1,400 patents.