On May 25, the final round of the 11^thChina National College Students Competition on Energy Economics, organized by the Chinese Society of Optimization, Overall Planning and Economic Mathematics, was successfully held at Shanxi University of Finance and Economics. The undergraduate team from the NEFU College of Economics and Management won the National Grand Prize with their outstanding academic creativity and solid research achievements. This victory, one of only 34 National Grand Prizes awarded nationwide, marked a historic breakthrough for NEFU in this competition.

The China National College Students Competition on Energy Economics is the most authoritative and influential subject competition in the field of energy economics in China. Organized by the Chinese Society of Optimization, Overall Planning and Economic Mathematics, the competition has six main tracks, including undergraduate and graduate-level energy economics, energy finance and management, research and innovation entrepreneurship, and one additional track for general energy big data. This year’s competition saw record-breaking participation, attracting over 30,000 submissions from 724 universities across the country. After rigorous selection through campus and provincial competitions, as well as multiple rounds of national reviews and expert evaluations, 188 outstanding entries from prestigious universities such as Beihang University, Tianjin University, Zhejiang University, and Xiamen University advanced to the national finals. The finals were held through live public defense presentations, with 34 National Grand Prizes and 80 First Prizes awarded to undergraduate students, and 21 National Grand Prizes and 53 First Prizes to graduate students.

At the competition site, NEFU’s team received unanimous recognition from the judges for their meticulous data analysis, clear logical presentation, and forward-thinking solutions. Their National Grand Prize-winning project in the undergraduate category, “Analysis of the Spatiotemporal Transmission Mechanism of Air Pollution Driven by Multi-source Data — CNN-DiffusionResNet-BiGRU and Complex Network-Based Co-prediction of PM2.5 and O₃and Pollution Transmission Path Identification,” built a collaborative prediction framework for air pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region by integrating multi-source meteorological, pollutant, and socio-economic data. By combining deep learning and complex network analysis methods, the project achieved high-precision co-prediction of PM2.5 and O₃concentrations and identified pollution diffusion paths between cities. The results of the study provide scientific decision-making support for the collaborative governance and precise prevention of air pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration.

This achievement highlights the significant effectiveness of the talent cultivation model at the College of Economics and Management, NEFU. It not only showcases the deep professional competence of NEFU students in energy economics and market research but also injects strong youth-driven innovation and wisdom into the green and low-carbon transformation of the energy sector and the high-quality development of the economy. This work aligns closely with the national “Double Carbon Goals” and the emerging needs of digital economic development.