On October 28,R&D and Application Demonstration of Comprehensive Science and Technology Services Platform of Urban Agglomeration in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River, the National Key R&D Program, passed the final comprehensive performanceassessmentsuccessfully.Gang Li, Professor and Director of the Center for Studies of Information Resources, Wuhan University, is the chief expert of this program.

The programR&D and Application Demonstration of Comprehensive Science and Technology Services Platform of Urban Agglomeration in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze Riverwas approved and set up by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China in 2019, and it is one of the key projects ofR&D and Application Demonstration of Key Technologies in Modern Service Industry. ProfessorGang Liis the chief expert of this program. Hubei Technology Exchange, Hunan Institute of Scientific and Technical Information, Jiangxi Institute of Science and Technology Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Wuhan University of Technology jointly undertake the program.

The program team has aimed at the competitive industries clusters of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the development demand of modern science and technology services, and carried out a series of work around the comprehensive science and technology service mode and platform system of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the aggregate of science and technology resources and the construction of characteristic resource pools, the aggregate of science and technology services and the application of key technologies, the research and development of comprehensive science and technology service platform, and the demonstration of comprehensive science and technology applications for characteristic competitive industries, and completed thegeneraltasks and objectives successfully.

With the strong support of the governments, departmentsof science and technology and relevant departments of Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, theprogramactively promoted regional innovation linkage and interconnection of science and technology services among Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, initiated the establishment of the Science and Technology Service Alliance of Urban Agglomeration in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River, published the Blue Book of theAnnual Report on the Coordinated Development of Science and Technology Services and Industries of Urban Agglomeration in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River(2022), built the Co-create Cloud, an online platform for comprehensive science and technology services of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, improved the hierarchical layout ofentityservice network, and formed multiple levels of service network by relying on the science and technology service institutions of the three provinces. The program has effectively promoted the coordinated development of science and technology services and industries in Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces.