On the morning of Jan.1, the annual National Conference for Science & Technology Awards was held at the Great Hall of the People. SCUT, as the first to complete the projects, has three projects to win the award, which accounts for 1/4 of the whole province, ranking the first.

On the conference, Premier WEN Jiabao, repeatedly referring to the word "innovation", spoke highly of the important role of scientific and technological innovation, which impressed on the scientists profoundly. "Whether to cope with the international financial crisis, or to attain a new round of development opportunities, we cannot do without innovation. This award will inspire us to take the lead in the independent innovation in the future", said SCUT Prof. XIE Shengli, the second prize winner of National Natural Science Award, to Xinhua News reporters.

SCUT, as the first to complete the projects this year, won 3 national awards, among which XIE Shengli and his team was conferred a National Natural Science Award (second-class category) for their achievement in Blind Signal Separation and Identification Theory and Its Applications, WAN Jinquan and his team, ZHAO Mouming and his team were each conferred a National Award for Science and Technology Progress (second-class category) in recognition of their achievements in R & D and Application of Key Technologies of Utilization of Waste Paper and Paper-making Waste Water and The Key Technologies of the Production of Taste Components and Condiments Rich in Flavor Peptide Using Large Amount of Low-value Protein. Since 1996, SCUT has had 17 projects which won the national awards for Science and Technology, in which SCUT was the first to complete the 12 projects. At the same time, SCUT has made a great breakthrough for the first time in winning the Natural Science Awards which reflects the "original innovation capacity".

Edited by HU Nanping and LI Yeyu

From SCUT News Network