HIT (Shenzhen)-GBase Cloud Database Research Center Officially Inaugurated, Transforming Industry-Academia-Research into a National Database Pillar

Facing fierce market competition, enterprises and universities can best meet the demands of core technology R&D and industrialization by leveraging their strengths for seamless industry-academia-research integration. On March 24, 2021, the signing and inauguration ceremony of the HIT (Shenzhen)-GBase Cloud Database Research Center was successfully held at the HIT Shenzhen campus. Professor Wei Jun, Assistant to the President of Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Professor Wang Xuan, Dean of the School of Computer Science and Technology at HIT Shenzhen, Zhao Wei, Senior Vice President of General Data Technology Co., Ltd., and Yang Weiwei, Director of the General Technology Office at General Data Technology Co., Ltd., jointly inaugurated the Cloud Database Research Center on behalf of Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen and General Data Technology Co., Ltd., respectively.

The signing ceremony was attended by guests including Huang Hengzhong, Director of the Shenzhen Nanshan District Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Service Center, Professor Li Jianzhong from the School of Computer Science and Technology at Harbin Institute of Technology, Distinguished Professor Qin Jianbin from the Institute of Computer Science at Shenzhen University, Assistant Professor Tang Bo from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Southern University of Science and Technology, and Zhang Ou, Director of South China Region at Beijing Ming Dynasty Wandun Technology Co., Ltd. Over ten faculty members, including Professor Liu Chuanyi from the Computer Application Research Center of the School of Computer Science and Technology, and over ten corporate representatives, including Zhang Yuzhi, General Manager of the General Data Technology Guangdong Branch, also participated. The ceremony was hosted by Assistant Professor Liu Yang from the School of Computer Science and Technology, and attendees exchanged views on the in-depth cooperation plan for the Cloud Database Research Center.

Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen is a collaborative establishment between HIT and the Shenzhen Municipal Government. It is the first member of China's C9 League (the top nine universities) to enroll undergraduates in Shenzhen, a university under the national "985 Project" and a "Double First-Class" Category A institution. It consistently aligns with major national needs and international academic frontiers, actively supports and develops emerging and interdisciplinary fields, and explores new models for university-industry collaboration. HIT Shenzhen has established a University-Industry Collaboration Committee specifically to build closer, longer-lasting, and more effective partnerships with leading enterprises and key local companies, thereby better adapting talent cultivation and scientific research to the needs of national economic development and accelerating the construction of a world-class university.

General Data Technology is a key software enterprise under the national planning layout and a leading China-developed database company. It is the sole independent database provider in China dedicated to database product R&D with large-scale deployments in the finance and telecommunications industries. Through collaboration, both parties established the joint university-enterprise research center, the "HIT (Shenzhen)-GBase Cloud Database Research Center," which has already initiated research on multiple topics, including intelligent database parameter optimization technology and columnar data compression methods for databases.

The inauguration of the Cloud Database Research Center received recognition from many parties. Huang Hengzhong noted that in the IT Application Innovation industry chain, Shenzhen's Nanshan District has strengths in application software and chips, while foundational software—especially major databases and operating systems—has remained relatively weak. As a leading China-developed database company, General Data Technology and HIT, with its strong R&D capabilities, can effectively drive industry-academia-research transformation through this collaboration, enhancing database technology and thereby better promoting database localization and contributing more to Shenzhen's development.

In his speech, Professor Wei Jun stated that HIT has always been strong in engineering, and its Computer Science and Technology discipline was rated a Category A discipline in the 2016 national Double First-Class evaluation. Addressing China's persistent hardware and software bottleneck issues, this joint lab represents a powerful alliance. It is hoped to serve as a starting point to contribute to database software and bring new momentum in application, development, and innovation.

Professor Wang Xuan opined that as information technology's influence grows, the digital economy's share of the overall economy will also increase. Industries like 5G, artificial intelligence, and blockchain all require massive data support, making data the most important asset across all sectors. Consequently, greater emphasis must be placed on the R&D of foundational database software. The widespread use of foreign products in China reflects internationalization; however, domestic databases must not only focus on localization but also prepare for future global expansion.

Zhao Wei noted that while domestic databases have developed rapidly, a gap remains with foreign products. Many large state-owned enterprises are forced to store data in foreign database products due to performance requirements, likening it to 'storing your own grain in someone else's granary,' a highly passive situation. Therefore, researching new, high-performance domestic databases is both critical and necessary. Moreover, as foreign vendors have established industry standards over years of operation, domestic players currently prioritize compatibility as the norm. To truly master the foundational layer and gradually build an intellectual property moat, this cannot be achieved by vendors alone but requires industry-academia-research collaboration with universities. HIT Shenzhen boasts robust research capabilities, and General Data Technology has extensive industry experience; their combination will provide more choices for high-end customers in China and ultimately contribute to the entire industry.

Professor Li Jianzhong from the School of Computer Science and Technology at Harbin Institute of Technology delivered a presentation on big data computing systems under constrained computational resources. Professor Li is a top expert in data science who pioneered research in parallel database systems and sensor networks in China, becoming an academic leader in both fields and advancing research progress. He developed China's first cluster-based parallel database system and has led numerous research projects, including National Natural Science Foundation Distinguished Young Scholars projects, 973 projects, and 863 projects. Professor Li has also conducted in-depth foundational research in multiple areas of data management and computational biology. In this session, he introduced the basic concepts of big data computing, addressing key challenge questions such as 'Is the data usable?', 'Is it computable?', 'Is it difficult to compute?', 'How to compute?', and discussed fundamental theoretical research in these areas. Finally, Professor Li shared research progress and achievements from HIT's MDC in these fields.

Yang Weiwei, Director of the General Technology Office at General Data Technology, shared the company and the research center's industry-academia-research collaboration plans. He provided a brief overview of General Data Technology's development history, core competencies, and cloud development strategy, along with the HIT (Shenzhen)-GBase Cloud Database Research Center's industry-academia-research plans. He introduced the center's short-term and long-term research topics and outlined plans for technology research and the transformation of scientific achievements.

In the future, the Cloud Database Research Center will serve as a window for collaboration and a pilot and industrialization base for new technological achievements. The research strength of the School of Computer Science and Technology at Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen will drive the business development of General Data Technology Co., Ltd., while the needs of General Data Technology will guide and support the center's research and accumulation in relevant core technologies, using the strategic national asset of domestic databases to ensure the essential security of China's data assets in the digital age.