On July 24, 2026, the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Hunan Province released the list of the first batch of Provincial Advanced Manufacturing Engineer Collaborative Innovation Centers. The Wuling Mountain Food Engineer Collaborative Innovation Center of Huaihua University was included on the roster.
A total of 13 innovation centers were unveiled in this round. As the only provincial-level engineer collaborative innovation platform in Hunan dedicated to the characteristic food industry of the Wuling Mountain Area, the center fills the gap of sinking public technical service platforms for the food industry in western Hunan and the Wuling Mountain region. Its approval marks a landmark breakthrough for Huaihua University in supporting the development of regional characteristic food industries, advancing in-depth integration between industry and education, and cultivating a workforce of practice-oriented engineers.
Backed by top-tier disciplines under the School of Biological and Food Engineering of Huaihua University, the Provincial Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Food, and the Chief Expert Studio for Huaihua’s Food Industrial Chain, the center partners with leading local chain enterprises including Hunan Tiantian Food Technology Co., Ltd., Huaihua Hailian Food Co., Ltd., and Hunan Shengyuan Oil & Grease Co., Ltd. It also coordinates multiple municipal government departments such as the Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Administration for Market Regulation.
The platform has built a four-party collaborative model featuring “universities + government + leading industrial chain enterprises + micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)”, alongside a closed-loop service system framed as “enterprises raise technical challenges, government provides supportive resources, university talents deliver solutions, workshops conduct pilot verification, and markets evaluate final outcomes”. This framework targets bottlenecks and difficulties restricting the growth of the food industry in the Wuling Mountain Area.
The successful accreditation of this provincial-level engineer collaborative innovation center stands as a landmark achievement of the university’s implementation of the Three Highlands and Four New Missions, its efforts to advance rural revitalization across the Wuling Mountain Area, and its deepening of industry-education integration.
Professor Xu Junfei, person-in-charge of the Wuling Mountain Food Engineer Collaborative Innovation Center at Huaihua University, stated that the university will further coordinate faculty, venue and equipment resources. Working closely with partner leading enterprises and municipal competent authorities, the university will push forward high-standard construction and operation of the platform. It will regularly carry out initiatives including teacher on-site secondments at enterprises, corporate technical research projects, inclusive technical services for MSMEs, and training for engineering professionals, to effectively resolve the pain points of small and medium-sized enterprises along Huaihua’s food industrial chain.
“We aim to build this center into a hub for technological breakthroughs, a base for engineer training, a pivot for research achievement transformation, and a public service platform for the food industry across the Wuling Mountain Area. We will leverage the university’s intellectual resources to boost the quality and efficiency of Huaihua’s food industrial chain, and contribute Huaihua University’s strength to building Hunan’s national advanced manufacturing highland — this is our core goal,” remarked Professor Xu.
(Translated by Tian Xia)