Participants display their design at the first China Graduate Intelligent Construction Innovation Competition in Nantong. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The first China Graduate Intelligent Construction Innovation Competition concluded in Nantong, Jiangsu province, on Nov 29.

The finals featured several segments, including proposal defense, engineering modeling, online simulation, and on-site presentations. The competition topics were closely aligned with industry needs, covering areas like intelligent tower crane scheduling optimization, smart concrete pouring systems, and city-level digital twin scenarios.

The enterprise challenge track was motivated by actual project requirements from 10 organizations, including Advanced Ocean Institute of Southeast University Nantong and Glodon.

After intense competition, the team from Hohai University won the championship, while teams from Southeast University and Southwest Jiaotong University finished second and third, respectively.

This competition is a newly established event in the 2025 China Graduate Innovation Practice Series, designed to focus on the forefront of smart construction development, explore and cultivate innovative, interdisciplinary, high-level talent, and accelerate the creation of a platform for industry-academia-research integration.

A total of 1,316 teams from 225 universities and research institutes across the country registered for the competition, submitting 1,216 entries, with 336 teams advancing to the finals.

At the closing ceremony, an investment intention signing event took place, alongside the 6th Academic Forum on Intelligent Construction and Maintenance of Infrastructure.