光明网讯 工程技术的进步对经济社会发展起着不可或缺的作用。如今，一系列新的全球挑战已然出现，必须通过教育、研究和工程解决方案来应对这些挑战。

　　为应对挑战，中国、英国和美国的国家工程院自2013年以来联合举办了四次全球重大挑战论坛。举办论坛的目的是为了促进全球共同应对重大工程挑战（促进人类发展的14个目标），并鼓励国际合作以实现这些目标。

　　秉承全球重大挑战论坛的精神，中国工程院、英国皇家工程院和美国工程院在此共同承诺，将努力促进通过工程方法应对全球新冠肺炎疫情的国际行动。

　　在14项全球重大工程挑战中，以下3项挑战与通过工程方法应对疫情密切相关。

　　•发展卫生信息学

　　随着计算机在人类活动各个领域的普及，当今的共识是，卫生信息学的系统方法（卫生信息的获取、管理和使用）可以极大地提升医疗的质量、效率以及对突发公共卫生事件的响应速度。卫生和生物医学信息学涵盖了从个人到全球的不同层面的问题，从个体患者的医疗记录到各国政府和国际卫生组织之间有关疾病流行的数据共享。

　　强健的卫生信息学系统使卫生专业人员能够检测、跟踪和减缓公共卫生突发事件。本次疫情突出表明，开发和实施此类系统以及公开分享其数据的重要性。

　　中、英、美三国工程院认为，开展公共卫生信息共享方面的国际合作，对应对疫情非常重要。

　　•开发更好的药物，以及

　　•开发科学发现的工具

　　在开发新系统和技术来利用遗传信息、感知人体的微小变化、评估新药以及制造和提供疫苗上，工程师始终处于最前沿。面对全球疫情，这些工作都十分重要。科学家和临床医生需要依赖工程师为他们提供执行尖端任务所需的仪器以及分析和定量方法。

　　体现这种重要依赖性的最新案例，是科学家和工程师之间携手合作，快速确定新冠病毒（SARS-CoV-2）的全基因组序列并使其可在2020年初免费在线获取。这需要大量的工程投入与协调工作：生物工程师设计了用于表征病毒的生化测序步骤，机械工程师开发了流体系统以使材料在仪器间精确地移动，光学和电气工程师提供了检测测序反应所需的传感器，材料工程师创建了在液体环境中工作的电路，以及计算机工程师开发了从所产生的万亿字节数据中提取必要信息所需的硬件和软件。

　　为战胜本次疫情并预防未来的疫情，需要让诊断、疫苗开发和生产、设备研发以及数据分析取得进一步发展。三国工程院联合倡议，国际合作，而非竞争，应成为上述领域取得进展的驱动力。

　　着眼未来

　　世界正在面临着新冠肺炎疫情的挑战，这进一步验证了中、英、美三国工程院继续合作应对全球重大挑战的必要性。应对疫情的国际合作是我们共同努力应对重大挑战的一个典型案例。中、英、美三国工程院时刻准备与全球工程、科学和技术界一道，加强创新合作，促进更加开放、包容、互惠共享的国际交流，为推动全球经济复苏和建设更加强健的公共卫生体系做出贡献。

　　值此艰难时刻，只要全球工程科技界同舟共济，守望相助，就一定能够战胜疫情，迎来人类发展更加美好的共同未来。为此，中国工程院、英国皇家工程院和美国工程院将在2021年组织三期线上系列研讨会（由每个工程院分别组织一期），讨论各国在疫情方面的工程技术进步，以及开发、生产和推广工程技术应对疫情措施的最佳实践。

　　这一在线活动将提供一个全球论坛，着重展示开展联合行动的机会，并将为2022年在中国举行的全球重大挑战论坛的进一步行动奠定基础。

Joint Statement on COVID-19

Xiaohong Li, Jim McDonald, John L. Anderson

　　Advances in engineering and technology have played an indispensable role in shaping social and economic development. A host of new global challenges have appeared, though, that must be addressed through engineering education, research, and solutions.

　　To address such challenges, the national academies of engineering of China, the United Kingdom, and the United States have jointly sponsored four Global Grand Challenges Summits (GGCS) since 2013. The GGCS were launched to accelerate global engagement on the Grand Challenges for Engineering—14 goals for improving life on the planet—and encourage international collaborations to achieve them.

　　Coming together in the spirit of the Grand Challenges initiative, the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), and US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) jointly affirm our commitment to foster and facilitate international action to respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic through engineering approaches.

　　Three Grand Challenges are specifically relevant to the engineering response to the pandemic.

　　· Advance Health Informatics

　　As computers have become available for all aspects of human endeavors, there is now a consensus that a systematic approach to health informatics—the acquisition, management, and use of information in health—can greatly enhance the quality and efficiency of medical care and the response to widespread public health emergencies. Health and biomedical informatics encompass issues from the personal to global, ranging from thorough medical records for individual patients to the sharing of data about disease outbreaks among governments and international health organizations.

　　Robust health informatics systems enable health professionals to detect, track, and mitigate public health emergencies. Recent events underline the importance of developing and implementing such systems and of openly disseminating their data.

　　The three academies affirm the importance of international cooperation in sharing public health information in response to the pandemic.

　　· Engineer Better Medicines and

　　· Engineer the Tools of Scientific Discovery

　　Engineers are at the forefront of developing new systems and technologies to use genetic information, sense small changes in the body, assess new drugs, and manufacture and deliver vaccines. All of these are important in the face of a global pandemic. Scientists and clinicians depend on engineers to provide them with the instruments and analytical and quantitative methods they need to perform cutting-edge work.

　　One recent example of this vital dependence was the collaboration between research scientists and engineers to quickly determine the viral sequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and make it freely available online in early 2020. This required a very broad array of engineering input and coordination: Bioengineers designed the biochemical sequencing steps used to characterize the virus, mechanical engineers developed the fluidic system to move material accurately through instrumentation, optical and electrical engineers provided the sensors needed to detect the sequencing reactions, material engineers created circuitry that worked in aqueous environments, and computer engineers developed the hardware and software needed to extract necessary information from the resulting terabytes of data.

　　Conquering the pandemic—and preventing future ones—will require advances in devices, diagnostics, vaccine development and production, and data analytics. The three academies jointly recommend that international collaboration, rather than competition, be a driving force in developing them.

　　Committing to the Future

　　The fact that the world is facing the challenge of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) further validates the need for the three academies’ continued collaboration to address global grand challenges. International cooperation in response to the pandemic is one of the obvious examples of our efforts to address the Grand Challenges for Engineering. The three academies stand ready to work with the global engineering, science, and technology communities to strengthen innovation and cooperation, promote more open, inclusive, and mutually beneficial international exchanges, and contribute to global economic recovery and a more robust public health system.

　　As long as the global engineering community stands together and helps each other in this difficult time, we will be able to overcome the pandemic and usher in a better shared future. To that end, the CAE, RAEng, and NAE will organize and webcast a three-seminar series in 2021—one organized by each academy—on the pandemic-related engineering advances each country has achieved and on best practices for the development, production, and dissemination of interventions.

　　This online effort will provide a global forum highlighting opportunities for joint initiatives and will lay the groundwork for further action at the 2022 Global Grand Challenges Summit in China.

　　附：

　　关于14项全球重大工程技术挑战项目

　　2008年2月16日，美国国家工程院宣布了14项21世纪的全球重大工程技术挑战项目。

　　14项全球重大工程技术挑战项目是由来自世界各地专家组成的一个多学科委员会，经数次召开会议讨论后提出的。这一委员会指出，并没有试图涵盖每一个重大挑战，也不为克服所选择挑战的特殊方法背书。没把目标重点放在预测或是小机械装置上，而是尽力找出有益于人类与地球兴旺繁荣所需要完成的事项，这些技术挑战中任何一项的成功都将大幅改善每个人的生活。

　　14项全球重大挑战项目包括：

　　生产可负担得起的太阳能

　　以核聚变提供能源、开发碳隔离技术

　　管理氮循环、全球都可用到洁净水

　　恢复和改善城市基础设施

　　发展卫生信息学

　　研制更好的药物

　　人脑逆向工程

　　防止核恐怖行动

　　确保网络空间安全

　　增强虚拟现实

　　推进个性化学习

　　发展科学发现工具