On September 25, the Shandong–ASEAN Smart Agriculture Innovation Development Conference and the China (Shandong)–Indonesia University International Cooperation Alliance meetingwere held at our university. Experts and scholars from ASEAN countries including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, representatives of alliance member universities, and Ms. Han Xiaoli—member of the CPC Leadership Group of the Dezhou Municipal People’s Government Foreign Affairs Office and president of the Dezhou Friendship Association—attended the event. Li Jialiang,vice-president of Dezhou University, delivered a welcome address; the meeting was chaired by Liu Yinfang, also a vice-president.Li Jialiang extended sincere greetings to all Chinese and foreign guests. He noted that, against the backdrop of safeguarding global food security and advancing green transformation, the vigorous development of smart agriculture is of paramount strategic importance. An open and collaborative spirit is essential to jointly address common challenges. He stated that Dezhou University has actively shouldered the mission of serving national strategies and has successfully established several international research platforms in key fields such as agricultural engineering and food science, creating distinctive advantages. With “smart-agriculture innovation and development” as its theme, the conference aims to build a high-level exchange platform for experts from Shandong and ASEAN to discuss cutting-edge technologies and future trends. He hoped participants would engage in in-depth discussions, reach broad consensus, and seize this valuable opportunity to expand joint research, talent cultivation and technology-transfer cooperation with ASEAN universities, so as to advance practical Shandong–ASEAN collaboration in smart agriculture to a new level.
Prof. Kudang Boro Seminar of IPB University (Indonesia), representing the China (Shandong)–Indonesia University International Cooperation Alliance, reviewed that since 2023 alliance members have forged increasingly close ties and carried out substantive exchanges in education, scientific research and technology transfer. He hoped the conference would further consolidate partnership, open new avenues of cooperation, and jointly contribute wisdom and strength to sustainable agricultural development.
During the academic sessions, scholars from IPB University, Udayana University, Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University,University of Malaya, Mariano Marcos State University,Liaocheng University and Dezhou University—online and onsite—delivered valuable presentations on smart-agriculture technology & equipment, green food & nutritional health, agricultural big data & applications, and resource utilization & sustainable development, followed by lively and in-depth discussions.
The conference was guided by the Shandong Provincial Foreign Affairs Office and the Shandong Provincial Department of Education, organized by Dezhou University, and co-organized by the Office of Scientific Research, Office of International Cooperation & Exchange, School of Ecology & Environmental Resources, Rural Revitalization Research Institute, School of Life Sciences, Institute of Biophysics, and Shandong ASEAN Research Center.
