The Data and Knowledge Engineering Research Center (DKERC) of Harbin Institute of Technology has been working on theories, techniques and applications of database systems under the leadership of Professor Jianzhong Li since the middle eighties.

The teachers and research staff have been studying the leading frontier of data base field. We have finished one project of The National Outstanding Youths Science Funds, one sub-project of the National 973 Plan project, 6 projects of National 863 Plan, 5 projects of Natural Science Fund of China, and more than 20 basic scientific projects of Chinese Academy of Sciences，Chinese Department of Education, etc.

From 1985 to 1995, we had proposed theories and techniques of statistical and scientific database management system, parallel database system, data warehouse and data mining, sensor network and data grid. From 1995 to 1998, our center had published five books, one of which received the fund of national excellent works of natural science and technology, and the fund of publish of Chinese Academy of Science. More than 240 papers were published in the academic journals and conferences, and two of them received the best papers in the international database conferences. The researchers in the USA, West Germany and Sweden have fetched their academic papers. IBM and HP came to discuss with them about their research on parallel database.

Many papers of Professor Li are included in the graduate courses of the computer department of Univ. of Minnesota, USA. The academic leader Professor Jianzhong Li has given 15 academic reports in conferences held in the USA, the United Kingdom and Canada, and acted as the Chairman, Chairman of Program Committee, in the conferences held by IEEE and ACM for more than 20 times.  

Our center had also implemented parallel computing systems based on computer cluster, the first parallel database management system based on the parallel computer cluster in China, the first parallel digital library system based on computer cluster in China, the first data mining system based on the parallel environment of computer cluster in China. Our center has also received two patents and various computer software copyrights, one National Science and Technology Progress Award rank 2, two provincial technological advanced award rank 1, two provincial technological advanced award rank 2, one provincial technological advanced award rank 3 and more than 10 other awards.