Shanghai Unveils "3+3+3" Forward Deployed Engineer Training Plan for SOE Leaders, Industry Engineers and Universities

On September 17, 2026, the AI office of Shanghai's Economic and Information Technology Commission said Shanghai has defined a "3+3+3" training plan for forward deployed engineers (FDEs), targeting three groups: heads of state-owned enterprises and government departments, existing industry engineers, and universities. The plan aims to improve strategic awareness and decision-making, help engineers shift toward combined business insight, consulting diagnosis and engineering delivery, and embed FDE concepts into university courses. Li Jinjin of Shanghai Jiao Tong University introduced the FDE concept to Shanghai and launched the country's first FDE training class; her company has 30 FDEs.

FDEs are a key role linking large model capabilities with industrial site needs, and the scale and curricularization of their training directly affect how fast AI is deployed in manufacturing and other scenarios, as well as how university AI programs connect with industry talent demand. Including SOE heads, working engineers and university students in the same plan signals a shift from purely technical training toward combined business, consulting and engineering skills. Details, training scale and assessment standards have not been disclosed, so actual results need later pilot data. University AI and engineering courses may add FDE-related content, affecting program design and internship arrangements. Working industry engineers gain an official channel to move into combined AI deployment roles, potentially expanding the supply of enterprise AI deployment talent.