The key laboratory ofSymbolComputation and Knowledge Engineering of Ministry of Education(Jilin University) has aglorious history, as one of the 12 key laboratories of the ministry of education attached toJilin University. It is the earliest founded laboratory focusing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in China, as well as the sole laboratory of Ministry of Education with symbol computation and knowledge engineering as its main research direction in the field of artificial intelligence in Northeast China. Over the years, the laboratory has won a high reputation in the field of artificial intelligence in both home land and overseas.

The key laboratory was officially established in December 1993.It is the earliest approved key laboratory of the Ministry of Education at Jilin University. At the beginning of its establishment, it was named as the open key laboratory of the State Education Commission, andrenamed to the current namein 1999. The laboratory is founded by Dr.Xianghao Wang, who was an academician, the founder of artificial intelligence, famous mathematician, computer scientist and educator in China.The key laboratoryis mainly supported by two first-level disciplines ofJilin University, i.e., mathematics (national first-class key discipline) and computer science and technology (whose computer software and theory is the national second-class key discipline). Dr. Xiaohao Wang and other pioneers, with great foresight, established the symbol computing and knowledge engineering as the main research directions, which are two most primary and important directions in the field of artificial intelligence.

The historical laboratory academic board directors includeProf.Wenjun Wu,Prof.Zhongxiu Sun, Prof.Ruqian Lu, who are allCAS academicians.Thecurrent laboratoryacademicboard director is Prof.Huimin Lin,he is theCAS academician in the field of computer science. The Academic Committee consists ofProf. Jifeng He(the CAS academician),AcademicianProf. Wei Li(the CAS academician),Prof. Zhihua Zhou from Nanjing University, andProf. Zhi Jin from Peking University. Under the guidance of previous academic committees, our lab members,Prof.r Xuhua Liu,Prof. Dayou Liu,Prof. Jigui Sun,Prof. Dantong Ouyang and the current directorProf. Bo Yang, have worked hard and made unremitting efforts. Formore than 20 years, thekey laboratory has been taken over from generation to generation.

At present, the key laboratory has a sustainable scientific research team with abundant knowledge andreasonable age structure. Among our 54 staff, there are 40 doctoral supervisors and 38 professors, 92% staff with a doctorate degree and 90% staff with experience of studying overseas. It also has various talents, such as Chinese Academies of Sciences, Changjiang Scholars, and winners of the National Outstanding Youth Fund and so on.After more than 20 years of unremitting scientific exploration, the key laboratory has formed its own distinctive research characteristics. It hasgradually formed five major research directions, includingthe symbolic computation and automated reasoning, knowledge engineering and science, computational intelligence and bioinformatics, high reliable mobile computing,mathematical theory of intelligent information processing. It has also formedthe multidisciplinary cross integration of basic theoretical research and the close combination of industry, teaching and research oriented to regional needs, and has achieved recognized high-level scientific research results at home and abroad, which has strongly promoted the theoretical and applied research of artificial intelligence, and promoted the development of local industry and economic.The laboratory has made outstanding contributions to the development of our supporting industries, such as agriculture, automobiles, and information security.

Since the establishment of the key laboratory, it successfully passed four times of evaluations organized by the Ministry of Education in 1998, 2006, 2011 and 2017, respectively, and the results were all “good”. The key laboratory has formed a unique rigorous and pragmatic research characteristic and a positive academic ecology. It has achieved recognized scientific research results domestically and internationally in all major research directions, and has made efforts for the training of talents in the field of artificial intelligence in China. With outstanding contributions, it has become a scientific research, academic cooperation and talent training base with important influence at home and abroad. At present, the key laboratory has entered a new stage of rapid development. The key laboratory is facing at the science frontiers and critical national needs, focusing on artificial intelligence and interdisciplinary research. All the laboratory members continue to develop and innovate in application fields, and continue to support the goal of building a "world-class university and first-class discipline" university. In the future, the key laboratory will continue to keep confidence as an important part of the national scientific and technological innovation system, to organize high-level basic research, gather and train outstanding scientists, and carry out academic exchanges inboth home land and overseas.