On April 16, 2026, the 2025 Academic Committee Meeting together with the Q1 2026 Director’s Office Meeting of Sichuan Key Laboratory of Aquatic Health and Smart Aquaculture convened successfully at Tongwei International Center. More than ten distinguished experts from universities and research institutes including Ocean University of China, Institute of Hydrobiology under Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University and Dalian University of Technology gathered to offer suggestions for the laboratory’s development. The meeting was presided over by Professor Zhou Xiaoqiu, Member of the Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, Chair of the Academic Committee of Sichuan Agricultural University and Director of the Sichuan Key Laboratory. Zhang Lu, Vice President of Tongwei Co., Ltd., General Manager of TWAD and Deputy Director of the Laboratory, as well as representatives from co-construction entities of the laboratory attended the event.
At the opening of the meeting, Deputy Director Zhang Lu delivered a speech on behalf of TWAD, the supporting entity of the laboratory, extending a warm welcome and sincere gratitude to all experts for their presence and guidance. He noted that the laboratory’s restructuring and construction coincide with the launch of the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Built to integrate strengths from industry, academia and research to tackle industrial bottlenecks, the laboratory sincerely invites experts to provide strategic guidance for its medium- and long-term development roadmap and corporate R&D priorities.
Subsequently, Director Zhou Xiaoqiu presented a special report titled Five-Year Scientific and Technological Development Plan and Key Research Priorities of the Laboratory to the Academic Committee. He systematically elaborated the laboratory’s strategic positioning after restructuring: centering on "Aquatic Health and Smart Aquaculture", the laboratory takes safeguarding national food security, supplying high-quality protein and advancing industrial upgrading as its core missions. It integrates superior resources from four co-founding partners — TWAD, Sichuan Agricultural University, Fisheries Research Institute (Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences) and Sichuan Runzhao Fisheries — to build a full-chain innovation platform covering basic research, technological breakthroughs and industrial application. The report detailed the laboratory’s research planning across three major tracks: precise nutritional regulation for aquatic organisms, aquaculture environment and disease prevention & control, and smart fisheries. It also outlined five-year targets for core technology research, database and demonstration base construction, and high-caliber talent cultivation.
During the consultation session, experts of the Academic Committee highly recognized the laboratory’s strategic positioning and development plans, and put forward forward-looking, constructive suggestions revolving around the two core themes of "health" and "smart". The experts stressed that the laboratory should fully leverage its distinctive strengths led by leading enterprises represented by Tongwei and featuring deep integration of industry, academia and research. Rooted in Sichuan and oriented toward the whole aquaculture sector, it shall develop replicable and promotable Chinese solutions for healthy aquaculture.
Far more than a routine academic guidance session, this Academic Committee meeting constituted a high-level exchange of ideas centered on the national food security strategy and the modernization transformation of fisheries. The profound insights shared by participating experts clarified the thinking and charted the course for the laboratory’s future development. The laboratory will fully absorb expert recommendations to optimize its R&D planning, strive to conquer key core industrial technologies, and deliver core scientific and technological support to spearhead the high-quality development and transformation of China’s aquaculture industry.