New institute destined to be a world leader in math

Credit: Chen Zhengbao / SHINE

The Shanghai Institute for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Science (SIMIS) was launched on Tuesday to promote the research of pure and applied math as well as interdisciplinary studies.

The establishment of the institute was initiated by renowned mathematician Shing-Tung Yau and supported by the Shanghai authorities. Based in Shanghai and reaching out to the Yangtze River Delta, it aims to build a world-leading platform for basic science and interdisciplinary research. It will focus on basic mathematics, applied mathematics, and the interdisciplinary application of artificial intelligence, biomedicine, etc. It hopes to overcome major scientific problems and practical challenges, lead the development of original and groundbreaking technologies, train top-notch talent and become a world-class center for mathematics.

As the institute's inaugural conference, the 2023 Annual International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians kicked off on Tuesday and will run through Friday, gathering more than 500 mathematicians from all over the world to share their latest research developments.

Chen Jining, Party chief of Shanghai, said at the opening ceremony that Shanghai will provide strong support for cutting-edge mathematical research, increasing investment in basic research and encouraging mathematicians to carry out high-value and high-risk research as well as interdisciplinary research of math and other disciplines to promote the development of various scientific fields.

He said Shanghai will also innovate math education approaches to improve students' mathematical literacy and innovative spirit.

He also said that Shanghai will actively promote international exchanges in terms of math, expanding opening up in education, deepening international cooperation in basic research, and building up more international, open research organizations and innovation platforms.

Credit: Ti Gong

Several ICCM Awards, including the ICCM Kevin Bao Best Paper Award, the ICCM Graduate Thesis Award, the ICCM Undergraduate Paper Award and the ICCM Distinguished Paper Award, were conferred to mathematicians and students with outstanding or influential papers published in recent years to encourage the young scientists to continue exploring their respective research fields.

Co-organized by the new institute and Fudan University, the four-day event, with its theme "For Basic Science, Exploring New Frontiers of Mathematics," will also feature about 200 lectures and reports, including some delivered by renowned scientists such as Caucher Birkar, Fields Medal winner in 2018, Xiao-Gang Wen and Sergiu Klainerman, academicians of the American National Academy of Sciences, Sijue Wu, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Zhang Weiping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences , and Laurent Fargues, researcher of the French National Center for Scientific Research.

Credit: Ti Gong