On 17 November 2023, the 60th Anniversary Symposium (6th issue) of the Journal of Automation, sponsored by Southwest Jiaotong University and the Journal of Automation, was successfully held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. The symposium focused on four aspects: data-driven control, chemical process safety risk management, human-machine hybrid augmented intelligence, and interpretable control theory. Some wonderful reports were delivered by Prof. Hou Zhongsheng, Chief Professor/IEEE Fellow/AAIA Fellow of Qingdao University, Prof. Du Wenli, Distinguished Young Scholar/Ministry of Education Yangtze River Scholar/National Ten Thousand People's Leader (East China University of Science and Technology), Prof. Chen Baidong, Ministry of Education Yangtze River Scholar ( Xi'an Jiaotong University), and Prof. Zhang Weidong (Shanghai Jiaotong University), Distinguished Young Scholar/Education of Education Yangtze River Scholar/Germany Humboldt Scholar.

Prof. Huang Deqing of Southwest Jiaotong University presided over the symposium, and Prof. He Zhengyou, Dean of the School of Electrical Engineering of Southwest Jiaotong University, and Prof. Liu Zhigang, Vice Dean of the School of Electrical Engineering of Southwest Jiaotong University and Editorial Board Member of Journal of Automation, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony of the forum respectively. 

The special report session of the symposium was chaired by Prof. Zhou Kemin, Prof. Yang Chunhua, Prof. Yan Huaicheng and Prof. Liu Zhigang respectively. On the first special session report, Prof. Hou Zhongsheng gave a wonderful report on the research and development of data-driven control for transport systems. Prof. Du Wenli introduced the research progress and application cases of the integration of AI technology and process safety.  Prof. Chen Baidong elaborated on the human-computer hybrid augmented intelligence, and reported a series of research work carried out by the team in recent years. Finally, Prof. Zhang Weidong gave a special report oriented towards interpretable control theory, from engineering needs to solution ideas, and introduced their team's application results in ship offshore equipment.

In the Symposium, experts and scholars introduced the relevant research results from basic theory to engineering applications. In the discussion session, the guests enthusiastically spoke and discussed with the experts and scholars in depth.