The Institute of Technology and Future Studies of Tongji University was established in 2019. It is an important measure of Tongji University to comprehensively optimize its discipline layout and improve the connotations of interdisciplinary subject. Following the development thought of “Guided by Advantageous Engineering, Integrated with Heavyweight Science, Coordinated with Characteristics Medicine, Shared and Connected within Arts, and Innovative Interaction within Cutting-edge Interdisciplinary Subjects”, Tongji University has established the Institute of Technology and Future Studies as an integrated research and teaching platform featuring interdisciplinary subjects and cutting-edge studies by integrating the strengths of existing specialties and degree programs as well as encouraging the interdisciplinary linkage and interactions between its advantageous engineering courses and competitive liberal arts courses.

Distinguished Professor and famous scholar Liu Riming serves as the director of the Institute of Technology and Future Studies. As a comprehensive academic research platform subordinate to the university’s School of Humanities, it organizes interdisciplinary crossover research projects, cultivates first-class interdisciplinary talent of humanities & social sciences, and constructs a high-end think tank of humanities to guide technological development and innovation according to the disciplinary development strategies of the nation and Tongji University. The Institute of Technology and Future Studies has gathered an inter-disciplinary, cross-school and trans-cultural team of experts and scholars in philosophy (philosophy of science and technology, foreign philosophy, ethics and aesthetics), life sciences, cognitive science, artificial intelligence and environmental science, which consists of 12 professors (including one part-time doctoral tumor), 5 associate professors and 5 assistant professors, with remarkable achievements in disciplinary construction, research and teaching.

In 2021, the Institute of Technology and Future Studies cooperated with the Law School, the School of Economics and Management and the Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems of Tongji University, and succeeded in the joint application for Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center of AI Social Governance. So far, the team has successfully held three “Future Philosophy” academic forums, invited more than 10 person-times both international and domestic renowned scholars to give academic lectures of high quality, applied for more than 10 scientific research support projects (among which are 2 major national projects), and published 7 monographs and over 30 papers, with positive influence in the academic circles and society.

The Institute of Technology and Future Studies insists on attaching equal importance to academic research and teaching, integrates its advantages in science and engineering and its reflections of humanities, conducts advanced studies and reflections on issues triggered by technological development in the future, and explores the future disciplinary direction conforming to the technological development trend. It has set up new courses in five directions, including future philosophy & new civilization, philosophy of science and technology & philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence & future civilization, life sciences & philosophy of life, and philosophy of ecology & environmental ethics, added relevant doctoral training directions, and begun enrollment and cultivation of doctoral students through cooperation with the School of Electronic and Information Engineering and the School of Life Sciences and Technology of Tongji University, with great contributions made to the cultivation of interdisciplinary talent.