CAS Institute of Automation

The Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute) was established in 1956, with intelligent science and technology as its main orientation. It is the overall leading unit of the 'Artificial Intelligence Innovation Research Institute' first established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is the earliest research institution in China to conduct research on basic theories, key technologies, and innovative applications of intelligent science and technology. It is also the lead organizer of the 'School of Artificial Intelligence' in China.

Over the past more than 60 years, the Institute has made significant contributions to China's national economic construction, social progress, scientific and technological development, and national security. In the early days of national development, the Institute pioneered control science in China and made historic contributions to the 'Two Bombs, One Satellite' project. During the era of reform and opening up, the Institute opened up new fields of pattern recognition and intelligent information processing in China. In the 1990s, the Institute, based on control science, took the lead in laying out artificial intelligence research. Since 2016, the Institute has taken the lead in game intelligence research and gradually formed a complete layout of data intelligence, brain-inspired intelligence, and game intelligence, producing a series of important achievements.

The Institute has long adhered to research in 'intelligent science and technology', forming distinct disciplinary advantages and technical characteristics in fields such as complex system intelligent integration, pattern recognition, machine learning, computer vision, speech and language information processing, brain-inspired intelligence, intelligent robots, intelligent systems, and intelligent chips. It has a complete intelligent technology innovation chain from original innovation and core key technology research and development to technology transfer and transformation.

Currently, closely focusing on the national artificial intelligence strategy and facing the challenges of the new generation of artificial intelligence, the Institute has established the core development goal of 'autonomous evolutionary intelligence', with three main research directions: 'brain-inspired intelligence and robot systems', 'multimodal cognitive intelligence systems', and 'game decision-making intelligence systems'. It also leads the construction of the 'Cross-Research Platform for Brain Cognitive Function Maps and Brain-inspired Intelligence' at the Huairou National Comprehensive Science Center, and the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Innovation Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Hong Kong Innovation Institute.

The Institute currently hosts national platforms including the Laboratory of Multimodal Artificial Intelligence Systems, the Laboratory of Complex Systems Cognition and Decision-making, and the National Engineering Research Center for Application-Specific Integrated Circuit Design. It also has several Beijing municipal and CAS research platforms, and has established five international cooperation innovation platforms jointly with research institutions from international, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions, including the China-Europe Joint Laboratory and the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Innovation Center of the CAS Hong Kong Innovation Institute.

The scientific research team of the Institute is strong. As of the end of 2022, the Institute has a total of 1,106 on-the-job employees, including 134 researchers and senior engineering technical personnel, and 337 associate researchers and senior engineering technical personnel. There are 3 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 academician of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, 15 IEEE Fellows, 17 recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 10 recipients of the 'Ten Thousand Talents Plan' scientific and technological innovation talents, 10 recipients of the 'Hundred, Thousand, Ten Thousand Talents Project', 8 young and middle-aged scientific and technological talents of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and 16 recipients of the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars.

The Institute has always attached importance to talent cultivation. The number of students, including undergraduates, master's students, and doctoral students, has reached 1,402. It is one of the units authorized by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council in 1981 to confer doctoral and master's degrees. It also has one postdoctoral research station in the first-level discipline of Control Science and Engineering, with 58 postdoctoral researchers currently on site.

The Institute is the host unit of the China Association of Automation and the China Society of Image and Graphics, both national first-level societies. The Institute publishes three academic journals: IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica (SCI journal), Machine Intelligence Research, and Acta Automatica Sinica.

On the new journey, the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences always focuses on the mission goal of 'building a national strategic scientific and technological force for intelligent science and technology in the new era', facing national strategic needs and layouts, remaining dedicated and determined, and providing strong scientific and technological support for realizing the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.