Recently, the third China Environment Perception and Protection Automation Conference was held at Beijing University of Technology (BJUT). Co-organized by Chinese Association of Automation (CAA), the Environment Perception and Protection Automation Committee of the CAA, and Artificial Intelligence Science Popularization Committee, the conference was undertaken by the College of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, Faculty of Information Technology, BJUT, Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, and Key Laboratory for Computational Intelligence and Intelligent System of Beijing Municipality. More than 150 experts and scholars from more than 50 universities, research institutes and enterprises, including Central South University (CSU), Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and Northeastern University, attended the event. The opening ceremony was presided over by Qiao Junfei, Director of the Environment Perception and Protection Automation Committee of the CAA and Vice President of BJUT.

Professor Nie Zuoren, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Vice President of BJUT, delivered a welcome speech. He praised the achievements of the Environment Perception and Protection Automation Committee in transforming S&T achievements into productivity, promoting environmental protection automation, and contributing to the “Beautiful China” plan in the past year. He warmly welcomed all participants, thanked their trust and support of BJUT, and invited them to exchange more with BJUT.

The conference was privileged to have Gui Weihua, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Vice President of CAA and Professor at CSU, Li Huiquan, Director and Research at Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Tian Yu, Professor at China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research to deliver keynote presentations. Academician Gui Weihua gave an opening report titled Energy Efficiency Optimization Control Technology for Non-ferrous Metal Production and Applications, focusing on challenges posed by the non-ferrous metal industry to green, efficient and intellectual development. Researcher Li Huiquan gave a presentation on Big Data System Integration for Solid Waste Environment Perception and Disposal, focusing on problems in the transformation of key resource environment elements in solid waste. Professor Tian Yu discussed Key Water Regulation Technology and Applications in the Central Route of the South-North Water Transfer Project, focusing on difficulties in operational regulation in the Central Route Project.

For key scientific and technological problems in environment perception and protection automation, the conference had three sub-forums on “Universal Automation Methods and Technologies for Environmental Protection”, “Automation Methods and Technologies for Sewage Disposal” and “Automation Methods and Technologies for Solid Waste Disposal” respectively. Twenty-four experts spoke at the sessions including Professor Xiao Rui at Southeast University, Professor Liu Jianguo at Tsinghua University, Senior Engineer Zheng Yang at the Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Center, Ministry of Ecological Environment. They shared their research experience and the latest results and had impressive discussions with other participants.

At the conference, Han Honggui, Secretary-General of the Environment Perception and Protection Automation Committee, CAA, and Professor at BJUT introduced the achievements the Committee made in the previous year. Members of the Committee held heated discussions on the annual summary and actively put forward suggestions for the development of the organization.

The China Environment Perception and Protection Automation Conference aims to provide a platform of academic exchange for scholars and technical practitioners of environment perception and protection, system control and automation, and other areas, as well as display the latest theoretical and technological achievements. This conference covered multiple topics and closely followed academic trends. It provided a high-end platform of academic dialogue for experts and scholars of environmental protection automation in China. It effectively gathered the wisdom and strength of all parties and was sure to make a positive addition to the development of environmental protection automation in China.