Recently, the “Intelligent Connection with BMW·Cross-Integration Empowerment” Sino-Foreign Student Science and Technology Innovation Practice Camp advanced smoothly at SAU. As a core part of the camp’s “interdisciplinary + cross-cultural” framework, Prof. Liu Hongliang, Vice Dean of the International Education College(IEC), delivered a special lecture on January 16, offering Sino-foreign students a fresh perspective on engineering innovation through linking aerospace and automotive technologies.
Focusing on aerospace structure design and computational mechanics optimization, the lecture centered on the core logic of “precision adaptation and efficiency optimization”—a principle that applies equally to the mechanical design of aircraft fuselages, BMW’s automotive structure, and the efficient operation of car engines. This insight provided students with a new lens to understand BMW’s intelligent production technologies. International students noted that the structural optimization concepts from the lecture deepened their understanding of new energy vehicle designs observed during their visit to BMW’s production base, highlighting the universal value of technological principles across different fields.
Following the lecture, Sino-foreign students grouped up for cross-cultural discussions, exchanging ideas on applying interdisciplinary thinking to BMW-themed cultural and creative designs while integrating cultural perspectives into technical exploration. These interactions served as vivid material for the camp’s core output, the “Cross-Cultural Collaboration Case Collection.”
Aligned with the camp’s mission of “connecting academic frontiers and promoting cultural integration,” the lecture leveraged interdisciplinary engineering thinking to broaden students’ technological horizons. It injected innovative ideas into key camp outputs such as BMW-themed cultural and creative models and cross-cultural collaboration cases, helping Chinese students enhance their global competence and international students deepen their understanding of Chinese technology through cross-cultural collaboration.
