China's two elite science and technology institutes on Thursday announced their newly elected foreign academicians on Thursday.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has elected 30 foreign academicians, while the Chinese Academy of Engineering has chosen 16, according to the websites of the two institutes.

Academician is the highest academic title in China. The research fields of the 46 new foreign academicians range from mathematics, physics and life sciences to robotics, intelligent manufacturing and materials science.

The 30 new academicians at the CAS hail from 22 countries, including five from nations that are involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

In addition, the CAS selected academicians from seven countries for the first time — Ireland, Malaysia, South Africa, Norway, Spain, Hungary and Iran.

The other 16 newcomers at the CAE come from eight countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States.

The CAE said in a short news release that these new academicians have strong international reputations and academic influence, and the biennial selection would be conducive to making full use of international intellectual resources and strengthening international exchanges and cooperation in engineering science and technology.

With the selections, the CAS now has 154 foreign academicians, while the CAE has 124.