2023 International Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research and Application (Jiangxi Branch) – Parallel Session on Crop Genetic Improvement and Green Development was held from December 8 to 10, 2023. The conference was hosted by the School Planning and Construction Development Center of the Ministry of Education and the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education, organized by the Joint Laboratory for International Cooperation on Genetic Improvement of Multimature Crops of the Ministry of Education and the Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology, Ecology and Genetic Breeding of the Ministry of Education, and was co-sponsored by the Modern Crop Breeding Science and Technology Innovation Consortium of Jiangxi Province, Jiangxi Crops Society, the editorial board of ACTA AGRICULTURAE UNIVERSITATIS JIANGXIE, and the editorial board of Biological Disaster Science.

The opening ceremony presided over by Liu Muhua, Vice President of Jiangxi Agricultural University (JXAU) was held at Primus Hotel on the morning of the December 9th. Those, who were present offline or online, included Lei Jiehua, a senior official of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education, Wei Fuwen, President of JXAU and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, He Haohua, Vice President of JXAU and other Chinese guests, as well as nearly 300 scholars and experts from institutions of higher education, research and enterprises from China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Thailand, the Philippines and many other countries.

Mr. Lei and President Wei delivered speeches at the opening ceremony respectively. Prof. He Haohua and Associate Professor Thiti Bovornratanaraks of Chulalongkorn University unveiled the plaque of Sino-Thai Intelligent Agricultural Integration Joint Laboratory. Besides, 10 postgraduate innovation bases and 9 industry-teaching integration bases of JXAU were awarded.

They exchanged their views on crop genetic improvement and green development, including Luo Xiwen and Zhao Chunjiang, Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Prof. Joann Whalen of McGill University, President of the American Society of Agronomy, Prof. Daniel Rodriguez of the University of Queensland, President of the Australian Society of Agronomy, Prof. Supachitra Chadchawan of Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, Associate Prof. Thiti Bovornratanaraks Prof. Huiyi Yang, University of Greenwich, UK; Prof. Amelia Henry, International Rice Research Institute, Philippines; Prof. Wu Honghong, Huazhong Agricultural University; Prof. Zeng Yongjun, Prof. Bian Jianmin, and Prof. Fu Junru of JXAU; as well as Prof. Zhang Conghe, Deputy General Manager of Anhui Tsuen-Yin High-Tech Seed Industry Co,. 

Two sub-forums on Crop Green Development and Crop Genetic Improvement were held on the evening of the 9th, and a total of 30 young scholars shared their academic achievements. The conference opened a special exhibition area for industry-education-research cooperation, and the participating enterprises showed the latest achievements of school-enterprise cooperation, which was highly praised by the scholars and experts.

The conference will further contribute to the genetic improvement and green development of crops in Jiangxi Province, accelerate cooperation of a higher level, and promote the deep integration of industry, education and research.