On the afternoon of January 26th, Premier Li Qiang held a discussion and exchange with representatives of foreign experts who received the 2024 China Government Friendship Award and those working in China at the Great Hall of the People. Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang was also in attendance. Among the awardees was Otto Heinrich Herzog, a German expert from the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, who participated in the meeting. Premier Li Qiang extended Spring Festival greetings and sincere regards to the foreign experts, thanking them for their long-standing concern and support for China's modernization construction, and carefully listened to their suggestions and opinions on China's reform, development, and government work.

The ceremony for the 2024 China Government Friendship Award was held in Beijing on January 25th with great fanfare. Wang Xiaoping, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, presented the awards to the foreign experts and delivered a speech. (Photo by Liu Bin/Xinhua News Agency) The sixth person from the left in the front row is Professor Otto Heinrich Herzog.

This award highlights the value we have created over the past decade through our international collaboration on artificial intelligence, which I have pursued jointly with Academician Wu Zhiqiang from CAUP, Tongji University, as well as our interdisciplinary cooperation, said Academician Herzog. I am deeply honored to receive this prestigious honor, which not only recognizes our past efforts but also inspires us to continue and deepen our work in this direction, striving for even greater progress.

Professor Herzog is a renowned scientist in the field of artificial intelligence, a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, an academician of the German National Academy of Engineering Sciences, and the founding director of the IBM Knowledge Systems Institute in Germany. He has been a pioneer in developing artificial intelligence technologies such as natural language understanding and image and video analysis and extraction, constructing the first German AI text understanding system, and leading the development of multi-agent systems applied in production and logistics, which have contributed to the conceptualization and application of Germany's Industry 4.0.

Since 2014, Professor Herzog has been invited to join Tongji University, successively serving as the Chief Scientist of the China Intelligent Urbanization Co-creation Center for High Density Region, a Professor at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and the International Lead Professor for the Shanghai High-peak Discipline of Intelligent City and Transportation Mobility. In 2021, he was appointed as an Honorary Professor at Tongji University and elected as a International Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Herzog served as a member of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Strategic Expert Advisory Committee for two consecutive terms in 2018 and 2020. Since 2020, he has been a member of the Academic Committee of the Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to establishing Shanghai as a global hub for artificial intelligence and enhancing the international collaboration influence of both Shanghai and Tongji University, he was awarded the prestigious Shanghai Magnolia Award in 2021.

Herzog has been actively promoting high-level cooperation in artificial intelligence between China and Germany for many years. Since 2013, he has structured and regularly organized the Smart City Summit between the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the National German Academy of Science and Engineering (Acatech). He played a key role in facilitating visits to China by two consecutive presidents of Acatech, promoting substantive collaboration between the two academies in areas such as smart urban planning, intelligent construction, and smart healthcare. He co-initiated and organized the Sino-German Future City Alliance, a government innovation cooperation platform guided by the ministries of science and technology of both countries and built in collaboration with Tongji University. He has also organized and participated in events such as the Sino-German Industry 4.0 and AI City Academician Symposium, the 2020 China Automation Congress, and the Sino-German Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Innovation Cooperation Alliance Technical Seminar. Additionally, he has led efforts to secure and successfully implement multiple EU-funded projects, including the Sino-European Sustainable Urbanization Innovation Platform, fostering continued collaboration and exchanges among the governments, academic institutions, and enterprises of China and Germany in the fields of smart cities and intelligent manufacturing.

Over the years, Herzog has innovatively applied his research expertise in distributed, concurrent, collaborative, and competitive multi-agent autonomous systems to the practice of urban planning and governance in China. Together with Wu Zhiqiang's team, he co-pioneered interdisciplinary collaboration between AI and urban planning. He participated in the development of technologies such as urban intelligent simulation and diagnostics, which have been applied to multiple planning and construction projects, including the smart towns in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster. Herzog has been actively involved in research and teaching at the institute, mentoring over 50 graduate and doctoral students and contributing to courses such as Frontiers of Intelligent Urban Planning. His work has significantly advanced the innovative development of artificial intelligence and urban planning disciplines. Since October 2023, Herzog and Wu Zhiqiang have jointly established the Shanghai AI Network (SAIN), an international task force on AI. This initiative continuously attracts world-class experts to engage in research and education in AI and sustainable development. By exploring breakthroughs in AI theory, technology, and applications, the team has made substantial contributions to Shanghai's efforts to secure a competitive edge in the global technological landscape and accelerate its emergence as a hub for AI development.