Entrusted by the Department of Science and Technology of Heilongjiang Province, the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) assigned a panel of 17 CAE Members and 31 experts in August and September, reviewing all the Science and Technology Award candidate programs for 2012 for Heilongjiang Province. This move aimed at further implementing the Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement between CAE and Heilongjiang Province signed earlier, and promoting the engineering scientific and technological advances, as well as the economic and social development of Heilongjiang Province. 

All the 105 candidate programs for review in 2012 cover 8 research areas, namely: 15 programs in electronics, computer and communications, instrumentation; 6 programs in land resources and utilization; 7 programs in chemical industry and environmental protection; 12 programs in mechanical engineering, metallurgy and materials; 21 programs in agriculture; 24 programs in medical health; 8 programs in pharmaceutical and biomedical engineering; as well as 12 programs in medical health dedicated to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). 

In accordance with the Rules and Regulations on Science and Technology Awards in Heilongjiang Province, the panel members carefully designed and then strictly followed principles for the review work. They attached the greatest importance to whether a program really helped solve major issues facing China and the world, and its innovativeness while working on the Science and Technology Advance Prize; the originality and practicality of a program while working on the Science and Technology Invention Prize; the advanced nature of certain knowledge and its practical value while working on the Natural Science Prize. Panel members engaged in the review work took their responsibilities seriously and abided by relevant regulations and provisions rigidly, ensuring the fairness and objectiveness of the reviewing process, and guaranteed high quality as well as authority of the evaluation work for science and technology awards. (By Zhao Wencheng, October 2012; translated by Liu Chang)