The great cause gives birth to the great spirit, and the great spirit, in turn, promotes the great cause.

As a leading important scientific and technological (S&T) innovation platform in Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Lab (ZJ Lab) has shifted its second entrepreneurial endeavor from "Is there enough?" to "Is it good enough?" or "Is it strong enough?". So, how to leverage ZJ Lab's unique cultural values to motivate researchers and integrate their ideals into China's S&T innovations and truly shoulder the mission of building China's strategic S&T strength has become a pressing issue.

A Shot of ZJ Lab's Researchers at Work

Questions

In July 2023, a big discussion exploded at ZJ Lab. And one of the questions is: what is the spirit of scientific research and entrepreneurship?

Just two months ago, YI Lianhong, Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, visited representatives of young researchers at ZJ Lab, hoping that ZJ Lab would dig deep into cultural connotation and innovate activity carriers, striving to foster ZJ Lab's spirit.

To build China into a global S&T power, the spirit of "Two Bombs and One Satellite", the spirit of westward academic relocation, the spirit of manned space missions, the spirit of scientists, the spirit of lunar exploration, and the spirit of BeiDou in the new era, which have been forged with persistent efforts from several generations of S&T workers of our country, have together shaped China's great scientist spirit and become an inexhaustible driving force to support the development of science and technology.

As for ZJ Lab, what keywords can represent the values that ZJ Lab's people are pursuing and lay a foundation for the formation of ZJ Lab's Spirit? How can spiritual culture be transformed into endogenous power to drive S&T innovations? How can we shape, display and spread a culture brand with ZJ Lab's characteristics? These three questions lie before every member of ZJ Lab.

"ZJ Lab aims to build itself into a national strategic S&T force and a world-leading innovation highland for intelligent computing. This mission requires us to take national needs as a starting point for scientific research, and to do away with the utilitarian mentality."

"No matter how many difficulties we meet, we never give up, because we have the belief that we fight to win if we do fight. This belief comes from our big dream of serving the country through scientific research and our aspiration to achieve S&T innovations."

"After 229 days of unremitting efforts, more than 20 in-depth workshops, and close cooperation with more than 400 industry experts, the research project is finally starting to bear fruit. It is precisely this cohesive collaboration and teamwork that guarantees our success."

"Loyalty", "Selflessness", "Transcendence"... Through these exchanges and collisions, ZJ Lab's cultural keywords have gradually taken shape.

In March 2024, the Zhejiang Lab's Implementation Plan for Cultural Development and Leadership Project was issued, covering five major categories: spiritual extraction, cultural practice, atmospheric creation, warm-hearted service, and cultural communication.

A practice is unfolding with the goal of realizing the organic combination of "Dedication to Science and National Prosperity", and fostering "ZJ Lab's Spirit" as a brand identity.

Practice

The formation of cultural values is a systematic project centered on spiritual culture development. That is, ZJ Lab's cultural values are incorporated into institutional and behavioral culture development to promote ZJ Lab's culture both internally and externally.

Academicians and experts were invited to the lecture on the spirit of scientists (including QIAN Xuesen) at ZJ Lab. They used their research experience to promote the spirit of scientists, and encouraged all the staff of ZJ Lab to practice on their own, learn from the older generation of scientists by practical action, and work hard on the scientific front line.

Workshops such as "Zhijiang Roundtable" were focused on hot topics, aiming to build a platform for exchanges, cooperation, and innovation through collaboration among "scientists, entrepreneurs and investors", and create a good innovation environment, thus stimulating a passion for research, invigorating academic ideas, and fostering a spirit of innovation.

Advanced models such as "the Most Beautiful Person of ZJ Lab" are selected, and the demonstration and leading effect of examples is leveraged to inspire enthusiasm for scientific research and entrepreneurship. ZHANG Ruyun, a Model Worker of Zhejiang Province and winner of the First Prize of the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award; YU Shaoliang, who made the MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 list; and FENG Yi, the first author of papers published in Nature and Science, have aligned the small dream with the big mission and interpreted "most beautiful characters" with their practical actions of serving the country through science and technology, leading a shift in "most beautiful characters" from "bonsai" to "scenery" and then from "scenery" to "fashion".

At ZJ Lab, there is a high proportion of young researchers under the age of 35, and many "post-90s" have taken over as heads of national key R&D projects or the Lab's major research programs or projects. Therefore, it is necessary to inspire young researchers' cultural consensus about "value identification, mutual trust between subjects and shared vision" under the guidance of ZJ Lab's culture centered on "Dedication to Science and National Prosperity", and to make innovations in discourse system and communication mode.

Relying on the S&T strength and popular science resources of ZJ Lab, the Zhijiang Tide Science Communication Studio, together with Tide News, searches for and produces more interesting and in-depth science communication news, and discovers charismatic role models in science in the new era. It was included in the first batch of education bases promoting the spirit of scientists in Zhejiang Province, and organized and held exhibitions on the theme of "promoting the spirit of scientists and striving to be a dream chaser in the new era". By telling stories about the older generation of scientists who served the country through scientific research, reinvigorated the country through science and education, and built national strength in science and technology, all the people of ZJ Lab were encouraged to bear in mind the country's interests and practice the spirit of science. Additionally, branded events such as the ZJ Lab Open Day and the "Looking for Teens in AI" summer camp were carried out regularly, in which teenagers with a science dream from all corners of the country were brought together at ZJ Lab, allowing them to experience the charm of intelligent computing in an intimate way...

"Walking out of the Lab and into the crowd, I deeply feel that our research gains support from the whole society. Whenever I get this way, my heart is always full of confidence and strength," said LIU Shuo, a member of the youth talk group of ZJ Lab.

According to ZJ Lab's "Investigation and Analysis on Ideologies of Researchers", the overall average score of researchers' recognition of ZJ Lab's cultural values was 9.23 (of 10 points).

Pursuit

The pursuit of shared values can inspire people, and shape customs and educate people in practice. The characters on the wall of ZJ Lab are "Dedication to Science and National Prosperity", which are also engraved in the hearts of ZJ Lab's people.

"Loyalty, Selflessness and Transcendence are the values that we're pursuing. When I feel confused, I know I can trust ZJ Lab's macro-strategic planning and its sensitivity to international frontiers, so I firmly believe that within this framework, my project is definitely promising and significant," said XIAO Jianliang from the Research Center for Novel Computing Sensing and Intelligent Processing.

"It's a pleasure to do what I really love, so I don't feel tired," said FENG Yi from the Research Center for Astronomical Computing.

Staying true to its original aspiration and founding mission, ZJ Lab has made great achievements in scientific research suited to national needs and the people's expectations.

A just cause finds great support, and a journey with steady progress gets far. Under the guidance of ZJ Lab's culture, the people of ZJ Lab are pushing the boundaries of cognition and the limits of technology, and will forge ahead towards doing what is right but difficult.