Without a fertile educational foundation, technological seeds struggle to sprout, and talented individuals find it hard to thrive. Since the start of 2025, Xianyang City has aligned with the provincial committee and government's strategic deployment to win "eight key battles," focusing on the critical campaign to reform the integrated systems of education, technology, and talent. By leveraging top-level design, platform development, talent recruitment, and industry-education integration, Xianyang is pioneering an innovation ecosystem that fosters deep collaboration between industry, academia, and research, all while striving to build a leading hub for the commercialization of scientific achievements under the QinChuangYuan initiative.

Xianyang is actively cultivating a virtuous cycle where education nurtures talent, talent drives innovation, and innovation, in turn, enriches education. In 2025, the city's technology contract transaction volume surpassed 15.6 billion yuan, with 145 scientific achievement transformation projects successfully registered. For the first time, the city's innovation capability ranked among the nation's top 100, marking a significant milestone. A comprehensive reform campaign to integrate the talent chain with the industrial and innovation chains is now being rolled out across Xianyang.

On May 30, 2026, a landmark event took place at Xianyang Rainbow School. With officials from the provincial and municipal science associations, the Qindu District committee and government, and experts from leading domestic universities in attendance, the school's Youth Academy of Sciences was officially inaugurated. This represents a critical step in the early cultivation of top-tier innovative talent at the basic education level and serves as a vivid example of the integrated reform of education, technology, and talent moving from "top-level design" to "grassroots practice."

Earlier, on May 13, faculty from Xianyang Normal University visited the Chint Intelligent Electrical Northwest Industrial Park. The government, university, and enterprise reached a new consensus on optimizing the "order class" training model and building practical training bases. Since its establishment in November 2025, the China West AI Innovation Hub's Xianyang AI Education Research Base in the Xianyang High-tech Zone has hosted 20,000 research visits and 3,000 family trips. From basic to higher education, from campus classrooms to factory floors, and from innovation clubs to the frontlines of industry, a reform aimed at unblocking the institutional barriers between education, technology, and talent is advancing in tandem across all levels of Xianyang.

On April 10, 2025, the city convened a meeting to advance the integrated reform of education, technology, and talent systems. The meeting emphasized igniting the power of "three reforms," leveraging the "four teams," deepening university-local-enterprise collaboration, and promoting the incubation and industrialization of more scientific achievements. Just over two months later, on June 25, an on-site meeting was held, with participants visiting demonstration sites including Shaanxi Lijing Xinke Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd., Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Northwest Rubber Co., Ltd., and Shaanxi Polytechnic Institute.

These intensive deployments and concrete actions underscore Xianyang's determination to tackle this reform challenge head-on. For a long time, education, technology, and talent have been managed by separate departments, leading to policy fragmentation and resource silos. How can they shift from "physical addition" to "chemical integration"? Xianyang's answer lies in reshaping its systems with a holistic approach. In 2025, the city formulated and issued an action plan and task list for this reform, defining six main directions and 25 specific tasks, managed with a clear roadmap. Simultaneously, it issued an implementation plan to create pilot zones and points, establishing three demonstration areas: the Xi'an Jiaotong University Innovation Harbor, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry Innovation Cluster, and the Weicheng University Science and Technology Innovation Industry Belt.

Xianyang's strategy for this reform centers on three key integrations. The first is the integration of resource allocation. The city has established a special municipal science and technology project for "education, technology, and talent" integration with an investment of no less than 30 million yuan, ensuring coordinated allocation of projects, bases, talent, and funds. In 2026, a new special project is set to be added, focusing on resource sharing, platform construction, and university-school-enterprise cooperation. The second is the integration of innovation platforms. Xianyang is exploring a new model of "one university, one port, one institute, one county, one enterprise" for integrated development. This includes supporting universities, accelerating the construction of the West Innovation Port Xianyang New Area, backing research institutes, empowering counties to explore new paths for local achievement transformation, and encouraging enterprises to build industry-education integration platforms. The third is the integration of collaborative mechanisms. Leveraging the Xi'an-Xianyang innovation-driven integration, the city is deepening the "three reforms" for achievement transformation and establishing a normalized coordination mechanism between the two cities.

On April 7, 2025, the 15th Campus Science and Technology Festival at Xianyang Rainbow High School opened spectacularly with a drone formation performance. The science show featured a "flame palm" act where a performer held fire harmlessly, and liquid nitrogen created "magic clouds" for the children. The technology practice area was a hub of creativity, with student projects like smart irrigation models, solar-powered cars, and ecological bottles turning imaginative ideas into tangible innovations. At the school, technology education is deeply embedded in the daily curriculum. On the afternoon of September 2, in the innovation classroom, teachers Qiu Hongwei and Wang Qiyan guided students as they presented their award-winning projects from the 40th Shaanxi Provincial Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition, showcasing the school's strong support for student creativity.

Teacher Qiu Hongwei noted that technology innovation not only cultivates students' comprehensive abilities but also transforms knowledge into innovative achievements, enhancing their self-learning and exploration skills. Student Yang Kaiwen shared that although the research required time, the process and results solidified his future direction. Competing in various science and technology contests also allowed him to connect with peers from other provinces and even abroad, broadening his thinking and fostering a strong will to solve problems, which has aided his academic studies. In October last year, the Xianyang Computer Society and Xianyang Rainbow School established a joint technology service station, a "school-society cooperation" model that leverages expert resources to build a systematic AI curriculum. The inauguration of the Youth Academy of Sciences on May 30 marks another step forward in basic education, offering tiered courses and research projects tailored to students at different levels.

From science clubs to the technology service station and now the Youth Academy, Rainbow School's "three-step" progression exemplifies Xianyang's systematic approach to integrated reform. Talent cultivation for technological innovation is now starting at the basic education stage. If Rainbow School addresses the "cultivating from a young age" aspect, the China West AI Innovation Hub's AI Education Research Base focuses on "how to cultivate," providing more children with access to cutting-edge technology. Launched on November 22, 2025, the base spans 18,000 square meters and features diverse teaching scenarios, including robot classes and 3D creation labs. It is equipped with over 3,000 sets of innovation and training devices, including programmable robots and brain-computer interface headsets, and can accommodate over 300 students for immersive practical courses. The base has recruited national AI experts and excellent teachers, integrating frontier technologies like embodied intelligence and robot programming into teaching practice. The base manager, Basang Luobu, explained that it currently has 12 professional classrooms and 8 knowledge points, collaborating with universities and enterprises to bring in over 50 experienced teachers. The base will host AI research for Xianyang and Shaanxi, conduct teacher training, and plant the seeds of AI understanding in children.

While basic education and AI research focus on "enlightenment," the "order class" model in higher education addresses the "application" issue, ensuring precise alignment between talent cultivation and industrial needs. The gap between the classroom and the workshop, from student to prospective employee, is being bridged by these "order classes." On September 3, He Dongshan, Dean of the School of Physics and Electronic Engineering at Xianyang Normal University, detailed the agreements signed with Chint Smart Electrical Northwest Industrial Park in June 2025. These include joint research teams in areas like intelligent electrical and new energy, and the launch of the "order class" talent training project. This program adds specialized courses like "Substation Integrated Design" and "Enterprise Management," taught entirely by enterprise engineers, creating a precise link between theory and practical job skills. The program emphasizes a "learning by doing" model, with students rotating through all production processes. He Dongshan noted that this approach helps students adapt to enterprise requirements, quickly turning knowledge into usable skills and shortening the transition from campus to workplace.

Student He Qi from the "Chint class" shared that it provides early insight into the company's development philosophy and career norms, setting clear learning and employment goals. In their second semester, they visit Chint weekly for practical activities, effectively combining theory with real products and processes, thereby enhancing their professional skills. While the "order class" solves the "last mile" of talent cultivation, the "technology deputy" program addresses the "last mile" of achievement transformation, bringing university research directly into enterprise production lines. In 2025, Xianyang launched this initiative, selecting experts with doctoral degrees or senior titles from universities and research institutions to be stationed at local enterprises. He Dongshan, as one of these "technology deputies," has witnessed how this program transforms researchers from "external consultants" into "insiders" deeply embedded in a company's R&D and production, acting as a technical advisor and a bridge for industrial upgrading. This involvement also informs teaching, allowing for more precise cultivation of students and promoting high-quality employment. To date, the city has established a select system at both municipal and provincial levels, with the municipal level focusing on expanding coverage for local SMEs and the provincial level prioritizing core technology breakthroughs in key enterprises. This year, 64 candidates have been recommended to the provincial level.

The results are becoming evident. The city has established 14 municipal-level industry-education consortia and 8 industry-education integration communities. Over 280 enterprises and institutions from within and outside the province have established deep cooperation, with 16 enterprises recognized as industry-education integration entities and 14 high-level training bases in operation.

From the science clubs at Xianyang Rainbow School to the AI Innovation Hub research base, and from the "order class" at Xianyang Normal University to the "technology deputy" program, these four seemingly separate scenarios form a complete chain. Basic education provides the "foundation" for talent cultivation; the AI research base opens a "window" to the future; the university "order class" creates a "channel" from the classroom to the workshop; and "technology deputies" build a "bridge" from the laboratory to the production line. These four elements are interlinked and progressive, together forming a "Xianyang mosaic" of integrated reform.

The reform is far from over, and innovation knows no end. From the "four beams and eight pillars" of top-level design to the "blooming flowers" of grassroots practice, and from the optimization of the education chain to the precise connection of the talent chain and the accelerated linkage of the innovation chain, Xianyang is working with greater force to dismantle institutional barriers and unblock innovation bottlenecks, striving to create a model for the integrated development of education, technology, and talent.