The finals of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition (CICSIC) 2025 wrapped up at Zhengzhou University on October 15. HNU teams delivered a record-breaking performance, clinching 1 gold, 5 silver, and 8 bronze prizes. The project “System Building & Industrialization for Land-based and Off-season Breeding of Golden Pompano Fingerlings”, developed by an undergraduate team, won a gold prize for its originality.

Backed by a key HNU innovation & entrepreneurship team and aligned with China’s “Blue Granary” Strategy, this project seeks to tackle the issue that the supply of golden pompano fingerlings is over-dependent on natural conditions. With breakthroughs in three core technologies—land-based broodstock recirculating aquaculture, efficient off-season breeding, and high-density rearing in small water bodies, it has realized off-season, large-scale, and industrialized production of golden pompano fingerlings. These technologies help overcome the seasonal limits on traditional marine breeding, paving the way for an industrial pattern that ensures “year-round supply, all-season farming, and off-season revenue generation”.

HNU has consistently stressed the ability to innovate throughout its entire process of talent nurturing. By leveraging the “three major reforms” (the comprehensive credit system, collaborative innovation centers, and the residential college system) as the key drivers, it vigorously advances interdisciplinary and deep teaching-research integration, refines the “personalized” nurturing mechanism and fosters innovation and entrepreneurship to help students develop in an all-round way.With 10 central government departments (including the Ministry of Education) and Henan Provincial Government as the co-hosts, the CICSIC 2025 was organized by Zhengzhou University and Zhengzhou Municipal Government. It attracted 6.19 million projects from 5,673 universities across 161 countries and regions worldwide, with 24.43 million participants. To dovetail with national strategies, it added new project categories such as low-altitude economy, biotechnology, and quantum technology to encourage more students to pursue innovation in the key fields. It has played a vital role in building a platform for the integrated advancement of education, sci-tech, and talents, strengthening China’s capabilities to train independently top-notch innovative professionals and accelerating the commercialization and application of sci-tech achievements.

HNU Projects in the Final of CICSIC 2025 and Their Prizes

1. Breeding a New Future — System Building & Industrialization of Land-based Off-season Breeding of Golden Pompano Fingerlings (Gold Prize)

2. Leaving No Tumor Undetected — AI-powered Digital Assistant for Radiologists in Detecting Brain Tumor via Large Models (Silver Prize)

3. Guardian of Hainan’s Independent Customs Operation — Large-scale Intelligent System for Network Security Situational Awareness (Silver Prize)

4. A “Micro” Shield for Blue Seas — Integrated Intelligent Detection System for Marine Pasture Microorganisms (Silver Prize)

5. Keeping Food Sources Plastic-Free — Smart Recognition and Multi-level Governance System for Agricultural Film Microplastics (Silver Prize)

6. Seawater Electrolysis for Hydrogen and Magnesium Hydroxide Co-production (Silver Prize)

7. AI-powered Digital Pathology — 3-D Pathological Analysis System Based on Micro-optical Section Tomography (Bronze Prize)

8. Graphene-based Anti-corrosive Material — A Pioneer in the Domestic Production of Long-lasting Anti-corrosive Coatings for Marine Engineering (Bronze Prize)

9. AI-Powered Therapy of the Future — A Pioneer of Brain-computer Interface and Tertiary Rehabilitation Network (Bronze Prize)

10. Red Sail Leading the Way: Instilling Faith in Generation Z with China’s Great Achievements (Bronze Prize)

11. Complementarity between Eco-environment & Industries— A Leading Promoter of Industrialized Ecologization and Eco-friendly Industrialization (Bronze Prize)

12. “Smart Rubber Tree Carver” — Automated Rubber-tapping Robot Based on Integrated Intelligent Diagnosis (Bronze Prize)

13. Smart Warehousing Chain — Design of Beidou-based Smart Warehousing Management System (Bronze Prize)

14. Integrated Application — from the Regulation of Grouper Reproduction to Cell Engineering-based Breeding (Bronze Prize)

Translated by Huang Yuwen

Proofread by Kuang Xiaowen