On January 25th, 2017, the grand awarding ceremony of “2016 CCTV Scientific & Technological Innovation Figures” was broadcasted at CCTV-10. At this ceremony the most influential top ten scientific and technological figures and top three scientific and technological innovation teams of China in 2016 have been released. The iChEM Chief Scientist Prof. BAO Xinhe from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics has been elected as the 2016 CCTV Scientific and Technological Innovation Figure for the breakthrough in highly efficient catalysis conversion for energy small molecules made by his group.

The academician Prof. BAO has been engaged in the development of new catalytic materials and energy clean and efficient conversion process for more than 20 years. Over the past 20 years, BAO and his group made a series of important progresses in the catalytic research of methane, syngas, and carbon dioxide direct and efficient activation and conversion, which exhibit important influence at home and abroad. The first batch of oxide and zeolite nanocomposite catalyst and catalytic process, the successful realization of direct coal-based syngas conversion to light olefins, subversion of Fischer-Tropsch to olefins which is the only effective technology in the past 90 years in coal chemical industry, abandon high energy consumption and high water consumption, to create a new way for coal transformation with low water consumption from the principle. The result was published in March 2016 in Science and it was praised as "a milestone breakthrough in the field of coal conversion" by domestic and foreign counterparts.

Co-initiated by CCTV and Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) and co-organized by Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Chinese Academy of Engineering, etc., “CCTV Annual Scientific and Technological Innovation Figures” means to show outstanding science and technology achievements in China, to commend scientific and technological innovation talents and teams with international influence and outstanding performance, which is a national annual "Science and Technology Grand Ceremony" in China from CCTV.