On the afternoon of July 26, 2025, the “SMG Innovation Salon,” hosted by the Laboratory of the Anhui Provincial Engineering Research Center for Advanced Functional Polymer Films, was successfully held in the main lecture hall of Discipline Building 2 on the High-Tech Campus. The event specially invited Cong Yuanhua, an outstanding alumnus of the laboratory and a senior industry expert, to return to his alma mater and deliver an inspiring lecture that combined industrial insights with career reflections. Centered on the theme “How Can R&D Professionals Enhance Their Workplace Value? From Deep Technical Expertise to Value Breakthrough,” the lecture was attended by faculty members, students, researchers, and engineers.
Drawing on his many years of practical and managerial experience in the technology industry, Cong Yuanhua began with current trends in industrial technology development and offered an in-depth analysis of the challenges and opportunities faced by R&D professionals in integrating technological innovation with commercialization. He pointed out that in a rapidly changing industrial environment, strong technical expertise alone is no longer sufficient to support long-term development. R&D professionals must proactively broaden their horizons, cultivate business thinking and user awareness, and achieve a role transition from “technical executors” to “value creators.”
During the nearly two-hour sharing session, Cong Yuanhua used vivid cases and practical experience to systematically explain how to identify industry trends, grasp the pace of innovation, and enhance overall influence through teamwork and cross-disciplinary communication. He emphasized that a true “value breakthrough” comes from effectively connecting technical capabilities with market demand, product planning, and business models, thereby finding the right position and unleashing one’s potential within the industrial ecosystem.
The atmosphere at the event was lively, with an enthusiastic interactive session. Faculty members, students, and engineers engaged in in-depth discussions with Alumnus Cong on topics such as technology-path selection, innovation team management, and bottlenecks in career development. Many participants said that the salon not only deepened their understanding of industrial realities, but also provided valuable inspiration for personal growth and research direction.
As a bridge connecting academia and industry, this SMG Innovation Salon effectively promoted the exchange of frontier ideas and the sharing of practical experience, further fostering a campus research culture that encourages innovation and stays closely connected to industry. The laboratory will continue to organize such activities, build more open platforms for exchange, help faculty members and students broaden their industry awareness, and promote the deep integration of scientific research innovation with industrial practice.
