National Research Center for Language Technology and the Digital Economy 

The faculty has been approved to establish the National Research Center for Language Technology and Digital Economy, jointly built and co-managed by the Department of Language and Information Management under the Ministry of Education, the Department of Information Technology Development of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Education, along with School of Computing , School of Foreign Studies, and School of Economics and Management of Harbin Institute of Technology. Focusing primarily on language technology and artificial intelligence research, the center operates under the brand “Language Technology Platform,” aiming to develop cutting-edge language technologies with global competitiveness. It is committed to becoming a premier think tank dedicated to advancing language technology research, with the overarching goal of supporting China’s digital economy development—while fostering technological innovation, nurturing talent, and driving industrial growth.

Ministry of Education Collaborative Innovation Base for Cultivating Rule-of-Law Talents in International Affairs

The faculty has been approved by the Ministry of Education to establish “Innovation Base for Collaborative Training of Rule-of-Law Talents in International Affairs”, partnering with international organizations such as the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization, the International Labour Organization, and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research to establish a collaborative education mechanism. Together, they are building a high-quality platform for cultivating rule-of-law professionals and developing top-tier talent in this specialized field.

Heilongjiang Province Collaborative Innovation Base for the “Three Promotions” Initiative in Higher Foreign Language Education

The faculty has established the “Heilongjiang Province Digital and Intelligence Empowered ‘Three Promotions’ Collaborative Innovation Base” for Higher Foreign Language Education (hereafter referred to as the “Base”), which is the nation’s first digital and intelligence empowered hub dedicated to the “Three Promotions” teaching initiative. This initiative aims to actively implement the national strategy for education digitalization, leveraging big data and artificial intelligence to transform foreign language education. It represents a key step in advancing innovation and reform within higher-level foreign language instruction. The Base’s innovative “Three Promotions” teaching model has already garnered attention from over 10 leading media outlets, including People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, and China National Radio Online.

Focusing on the strategic needs of the nation’s strategy for opening up to the world, we remain committed to the fundamental mission of fostering moral integrity and cultivating talent. Driven by the advancement of digital and intelligence-empowered foreign language education, we uphold the integration of science, education, industry, and practice, pooling high-quality digital educational resources to create an internationalized, digitally enhanced platform for nurturing globally competitive professionals. This initiative aims to seamlessly integrate information technology with foreign language education, foster collaborative innovation between universities and industry practitioners, and explore new pathways and innovative approaches for driving the digital transformation of foreign language education.

The base brings together collaborative efforts in developing “Three Promotions” digitally empowered curriculum initiatives, fully leveraging the advantages of large language models to establish a new language-data-driven framework for foreign language teaching and research. This groundbreaking approach will propel innovative developments in higher-level foreign language education while significantly enhancing the overall quality of talent cultivation.

Leveraging the base, we are actively conducting practical and innovative research on the implementation of the “Understanding Contemporary China” course. Notably, our project titled “Research on the Use and Teaching Innovation of the ‘Understanding Contemporary China Reading and Writing’ Textbook from the Perspective of Global Competence,” has successfully been approved as part of the National Key Research Base for Foreign Language Textbook Development across Primary, Secondary, and Higher Education Institutions, specifically under the “China Foreign Language Textbook Research Special Project.”

Joint Laboratory for Corpus Development on “Understanding Contemporary China”

The faculty has signed an international strategic cooperation agreement with China Daily, establishing the China Daily–Harbin Institute of Technology Joint Laboratory for Developing Corpus Resources on “Understanding Contemporary China”. This collaboration will further strengthen partnerships in areas such as international communication, integrated media platform development, joint lab initiatives, and talent cultivation. Together, they aim to advance the research and application of digital educational resources—including the “Understanding Contemporary China” corpus, knowledge graphs, and MOOC. Additionally, a strategic cooperation agreement on international communication was signed with the Heilongjiang Northeast Asia International Communication Center, jointly promoting the global dissemination and exchange of culture.

Heilongjiang Province Dual-Innovation Think Tank

Heilongjiang Province Innovation and Entrepreneurship Think Tank is among the first batch of key think tanks of Heilongjiang Province prioritized for development, established in August 2017. Harbin Institute of Technology serves as the responsible institution. In May 2021, the School of Social Sciences at HIT assumed responsibility for building and strengthening the Heilongjiang Provincial Innovation and Entrepreneurship Think Tank, with Professor Wang Bo, Dean of the School of Social Sciences, serving as the chief expert of the think tank.

The think tank focuses on critical areas such as innovation and entrepreneurship, the digital economy, industrial economics, regional development, and social governance. Its mission is to attract and nurture a high-caliber team of experts and research groups, thereby revitalizing intellectual resource ecosystem of Heilongjiang. By organizing high-level forums and seminars, the think tank aims to forge strong connections between universities, businesses and government agencies, creating seamless channels for policy consultation and advisory input.

Ultimately, the goal is to produce landmark achievements that carry significant influence, both in policy making, academic circles, and society at large, while establishing the think tank as a robust institution capable of delivering impactful policy advice and strategic recommendations. Ultimately, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Think Tank will become a premier think tank that plays a pivotal role in advancing entrepreneurial and innovative initiatives of Heilongjiang, as well as shaping the provincial‌ economic and social development strategies.

Heilongjiang Province Academic Exchange Base for Digital Economy and Smart Society

The Heilongjiang Provincial Academic Exchange Base for Digital Economy and Smart Society was established in August 2022. Driven by the development of the first-level doctoral program in sociology, the base leverages Harbin Institute of Technology’s disciplinary framework and draws on cutting-edge technologies such as computer science, the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence. Focusing on the themes of “digital economy” and “smart society,” it fosters interdisciplinary collaboration across core fields like sociology, economics, and law, laying the groundwork for emerging areas including digital sociology, the digital and intelligent transformation of social governance, research on the digital economy, internet finance, and spatial law.

Distinctive research directions that mutually support and collaboratively advance alongside cybersecurity legislation and other initiatives. These efforts have fostered “leveraging the interdisciplinary strengths of social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering,” “harnessing the catalytic role of high-profile academic conferences and forums in advancing discipline development,” and “accelerating the establishment of cutting-edge think tanks to meet national and regional strategic development needs.”

Heilongjiang Province Social Services and Social Security Base

The Heilongjiang Provincial Social Services and Social Security Base is a provincial-level research institution in Heilongjiang Province. Approved by the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Civil Affairs in 2006, its primary functions include conducting research on social services and social security, as well as overseeing related organizational management activities. The base is affiliated with the doctoral program in Sociology at the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology. Its core members consist of professors, associate professors, lecturers, and doctoral students. Key research areas include: Networked Well-being, Grassroots Social Governance, Vulnerable Groups in Virtual Spaces, Provincial-Level Social Security Systems, and Social Welfare Policies.

Heilongjiang Provincial Social Engineering Research Center

In 2011, the center was approved by the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Education to establish the Heilongjiang Provincial Social Engineering Research Center, which is the university’s sole key research base for humanities and social sciences among Heilongjiang’s higher education institutions. Built upon the foundation of sociology faculty and students from Harbin Institute of Technology, the center has also integrated experts and scholars from both on- and off-campus science and engineering disciplines. The center is committed to stabilizing the cross-disciplinary research direction of “humanities and engineering” in social engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology, starting a brand direction of engineering sociology, and building a provincial-level key research base for humanities and social sciences with outstanding academic influence.

Heilongjiang Province Research Base of Social Organizations and Social Construction

Heilongjiang Province Research Base of Social Organizations and Social Construction was established in April 2020 with the approval of the Heilongjiang Provincial Civil Affairs Department and the Education Department. It focuses on social organizations and social construction, conducts in-depth research on civil administration theory, policy innovation, and project development, and supports teaching, research, talent cultivation, and discipline construction in departments, colleges, and sociology departments. Under the guidance of the Provincial Civil Affairs Department and the Education Department, the base works closely with government departments, social organizations, social groups, and grassroots communities, radiating to many cities in Heilongjiang Province. It actively conducts scientific research, decision-making consultation, and practical practice work such as tracking and investigating public welfare organizations, conducting research on party building in new social organizations, training community cadres, cultivating community social organizations, drafting industry norms for social organization development, formulating development plans for civil administration, grassroots community governance and social services, social work, and social psychological construction. It has achieved gratifying results in the fields of public welfare and charity, social organizations, social construction, social governance, emergency management, lifestyle, social work, and social psychological construction. It has undertaken multiple national social science fund projects, provincial philosophy and social science planning projects. Academic works are published in China Social Sciences Press, Social Sciences Academic Press and SCI/SSCI/CSSCI journals. The research results have won first, second and third prizes for outstanding achievements in provincial social sciences.