Selecting 93 research and 93 development specialties in nine fields
London, U.K., December 14, 2020 – Clarivate Plc (NYSE: CLVT), a global leader in providing trusted information and insights to accelerate the pace of innovation, the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and the Higher Education Press of China today released their fifth annual collaborative report – “Engineering Fronts 2021”. The report, which was launched at a joint forum in Beijing, has identified the hottest areas in engineering research and development.
“Engineering Fronts 2021” identified 93 global engineering research fronts and 93 engineering development fronts in nine fields, aligned to the nine academic divisions under CAE. They are mechanical and vehicle engineering; information and electronic engineering; chemical, metallurgical, and materials engineering; energy and mining engineering; civil, hydraulic, and architectural engineering; environmental and light textile engineering; agriculture; medicine and health; engineering management. This year’s report has also highlighted 28 noteworthy key engineering research fronts and 28 noteworthy key engineering development fronts.
An engineering front is defined as a key direction for the future development of engineering science and technology. The engineering research fronts are identified based on citation data from the Web of Science™ as well as nomination by experts in engineering research. The engineering development fronts are identified based on the patent data in the Derwent Innovation™, as well as nomination by experts or patent analysis by patent industry peers.
Jeremy Lawson, Senior Vice President, Academia and Government Markets, Clarivate, said: “We are very proud to work together with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Higher Education Press of China to launch ‘Engineering Fronts 2021’, our fifth annual collaborative report. This is a very important report as its content guides us to the future research and development of engineering. At Clarivate, our vision is to improve the way the world creates, protects and advances innovation. Collaborations with global research organizations such as CAE are key to how we will help to advance global scientific research.”
Zhong Zhihua, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering said: “The annual Engineering Fronts report has become an important part in providing direction for academic research by CAE. We will continue to track the frontier of global engineering research, grasp the general trend of global science and technology development, study the new direction of scientific and technological revolution, and provide a stronger driving force for high-quality economic and social development.”
28 noteworthy key engineering research fronts are:
| Key engineering research fronts | Field |
|---|---|
| Flexible robotic endoscopy systems for minimally invasive surgery | Mechanical and vehicle engineering |
| Unmanned underwater vehicle | Mechanical and vehicle engineering |
| Micro insect-inspired flapping-wing vehicle | Mechanical and vehicle engineering |
| In-memory computing technology for intelligent computing | Information and electronic engineering |
| Photonic-electronic integrated circuits | Information and electronic engineering |
| Integrated microwave photonics | Information and electronic engineering |
| Novel high-performance ceramic energy storage materials and capacitors | Chemical, metallurgical, and materials engineering |
| Synthesis of multicarbon platform compounds from CO2 | Chemical, metallurgical, and materials engineering |
| Coupling hydrogen metallurgy to nuclear hydrogen production | Chemical, metallurgical, and materials engineering |
| Regulation and control of theories and methods in power systems using a high proportion of renewable energy | Energy and mining engineering |
| Research on inherent safety of nuclear fuel, characteristics of reactor safety mechanism, and multidisciplinary strong coupling mechanism | Energy and mining engineering |
| Key technologies and challenges for natural gas hydrate exploitation | Energy and mining engineering |
| Multi-information perception and early warning of hidden danger of mine disasters | Energy and mining engineering |
| The eco-environmental effects of interbasin water transfer | Civil, hydraulic, and architectural engineering |
| Resilience improvement of transportation infrastructure | Civil, hydraulic, and architectural engineering |
| Low-carbon long-life cement-based materials | Civil, hydraulic, and architectural engineering |
| Response mechanism of the soil carbon pool to global climate change | Environmental and light textile engineering |
| Compound extreme climate events and disaster risk | Environmental and light textile engineering |
| Preparation and functional application of superwetting biomass-based composite fibers | Environmental and light textile engineering |
| Cross-specific transmission mechanism of important zoonoses | Agriculture |
| Motion control and flexible operation of agricultural robots | Agriculture |
| Hybrid breeding of aquatic animals and its molecular mechanism | Agriculture |
| Molecular mechanism of genetic evolution and cross-species transmission with SARS-CoV-2 | Medicine and health |
| Aging mechanism and intervention | Medicine and health |
| Universal CAR-T cell immunotherapy | Medicine and health |
| Research on the human-computer trust and collaboration mechanism in human-computer collaborative decision-making | Engineering management |
| Research on blockchain-based data security management | Engineering management |
| Research on the low-carbon transition management and driving mechanism of energy system | Engineering management |
28 noteworthy key engineering development fronts are:
| Key engineering research fronts | Field |
|---|---|
| Reusable spaceplane | Mechanical and vehicle engineering |
| Development of coexisting-cooperative-cognitive robots | Mechanical and vehicle engineering |
| Self-organized collaboration of multiple unmanned surface systems | Mechanical and vehicle engineering |
| Chiplet design and chip-level three-dimensional stacking microsystem integration technology | Information and electronic engineering |
| High-resolution millimeter-wave radar 4D imaging technology | Information and electronic engineering |
| Ultrafast laser cross-scale micro-nano manufacturing technology | Information and electronic engineering |
| Industrialization of low-cost and high-efficiency perovskite solar cells | Chemical, metallurgical, and materials engineering |
| Deep purification and resource utilization of waste gas from the process industry | Chemical, metallurgical, and materials engineering |
| Technology for large-scale homogeneous high-entropy alloy preparation | Chemical, metallurgical, and materials engineering |
| Key technologies for low-cost, high-power, and high-efficiency alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) | Energy and mining engineering |
| Research and development of key technologies and equipment for the biomass hydrogen production mechanism in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors | Energy and mining engineering |
| Intelligent and efficient drilling tool assembly and drilling and completion technology | Energy and mining engineering |
| High temperature resistant tool and system of measurement for drilling | Energy and mining engineering |
| Intelligent construction technology for building engineering | Civil, hydraulic, and architectural engineering |
| Intelligent and integrated sewage treatment devices for village and town | Civil, hydraulic, and architectural engineering |
| Indoor and outdoor integrated high-precision positioning and navigation system | Civil, hydraulic, and architectural engineering |
| Atmospheric oxidation capacity and ozone pollution control | Environmental and light textile engineering |
| Marine bionic antifouling technology | Environmental and light textile engineering |
| Development of new functional natural cellulose fibers | Environmental and light textile engineering |
| Technology of genotype-phenotype association analysis in crop breeding population | Agriculture |
| Gene editing and plant disease resistance | Agriculture |
| Seriously degraded forest and grassland ecological restoration technology | Agriculture |
| Clinical translational application of brain-computer interface technology | Medicine and health |
| Genetically engineered organ xenotransplantation technology | Medicine and health |
| Tumor neoantigen vaccines | Medicine and health |
| Big data based disease diagnosis and prediction system and technology | Engineering management |
| City information modeling (CIM) and systems | Engineering management |
| Blockchain-based quality information tracking method and system | Engineering management |
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About Clarivate
Clarivate™ is a global leader in providing solutions to accelerate the lifecycle of innovation. Our bold mission is to help customers solve some of the world’s most complex problems by providing actionable information and insights that reduce the time from new ideas to life-changing inventions in the areas of science and intellectual property. We help customers discover, protect and commercialize their inventions using our trusted subscription and technology-based solutions coupled with deep domain expertise. For more information, please visit clarivate.com.
About the Chinese Academy of Engineering
The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) is the highest honorary and advisory academic institution in the nation’s fields of engineering sciences and technology. It is dedicated to uniting outstanding talents in engineering to lead innovation and development in China. The highest decision-making body in the CAE is the General Assembly, which selects new members every two years through voting. The CAE has nine academic divisions, six special committees and one general administration department.
For more information, please visit http://en.cae.cn/en/
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