On August 26, the Second “Dialogues about the Countryside”: Forum on Data Intelligence Innovation in Rural Revitalization was held at Wuhan University Library Lecture Hall. The Forum was under the guidance of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Culture and Tourism and China Council for the Promotion of National Trade, and it was sponsored by Wuhan Data Intelligence Research Institute, Digitalized Rural Revitalization Research Center, Wuhan University and our School. The theme of the Forum is Innovating with Data Intelligence to Empower Rural Revitalization, discussing how to empower local governments, break through the difficulties in rural revitalization, and explore a new model of rural revitalization that can be implemented, replicated and sustainable.

People attended the Forum were as followings:

Fuyang Zhang, Executive Vice President of China Council for the Promotion of National Trade,

Hongye Xin, Deputy Director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism,

Xinqiao Xu, former First-class Inspector of Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission,

Zhuanghai Shen, CPC Deputy Secretary of Wuhan University,

Xingrong Fu, CPC Secretary of our School,

Wei Lu, Dean of our School,

Ming Lei, Dean of the Institute on Rural Revitalization at Peking University,

Tiejun Wen, Professor at Renmin University of China,

Kanliang Wang, Professor at Renmin University of China,

Jinlong Zhang, Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and more than 100 relevant personnel from government departments, rural revitalization industry associations and enterprises in Jiangxi and Chongqing.

Zhuanghai Shen welcomed the guests, experts and scholars. He pointed out that Wuhan University, with its political responsibility and conscious action to serve for rural revitalization, gives full play to its advantages in research and education and provides all-round support and services for rural revitalization, such as innovation and entrepreneurship, personnel training, cultural inheritance and industrial development. The “Dialogues about the Countryside” platform brings together successful cases, valuable experiences and innovative models, and provides an efficient communication and cooperation channel for entrepreneurs, managers and scholars in related fields. We look forward to in-depth cooperation with more government departments, universities and enterprises via this platform to jointly explore the innovative model of data intelligence in rural revitalization.

In his speech, Fuyang Zhang pointed out that the China Council for the Promotion of National Trade will continue to give full play to the role and functions of Chinese One Township, One Product (OTOP) industrial promotion plan, the national conference on the development of ethnic areas, the inheritance and revitalization project of ethnic medicine, and the comprehensive assistance plan for ethnic areas. It is willing to work with Wuhan University to summarize and popularize the practical experience of rural revitalization, mobilize more social forces, promote the high-quality development and common prosperity of rural revitalization throughout the country, and promote exchanges among people of all ethnic groups.

Jiang Wu, head of the National Key R&D Project Integration and Application Demonstration of Rural Culture and Tourism Cloud Service Technology, Associate Dean of our School, introduced the progress and achievements of the project. The project was jointly set up by the government, universities and enterprises, and went deep into more than 100 counties in 10 provinces for field research, on-village operation and organization demonstration, analyzed the pain points and difficulties of rural revitalization, aggregated the wisdom of experts and scholars in this field, grassroots cadres and masses and the market experience of many rural cultural tourism industries, and promoted urban-rural convergence and solved the problems in rural revitalization with the path of "platform economy+digital interconnection".

At the meeting, the project team published "urban-rural interconnection model", the scientific research achievement of the project, and signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with China Council for the Promotion of National Trade on the transformation and implement of scientific research achievements, the construction of OTOP rural revitalization system, the cultivation of rural revitalization talents, and the construction of a rural revitalization industry alliance matrix.

The Committee on Urban-Rural Convergence Development of the China Council for the Promotion of National Trade was formally established. Fuyang Zhang and Zhuanghai Shen unveiled for the Committee, and presented letters of appointment to the engaged experts. With the witness of Wei Lu and Jin Yang, member of the Standing Committee of Qichun County and Deputy Magistrate of Qichun County, Jiang Wu awarded the license to Jiukesong Village, Qichun County, Hubei Province, a demonstration site of urban-rural interconnection business operation.

In the theme sharing session, Ming Lei, Tiejun Wen, Hongye Xin and Xinqiao Xu shared on how to use data intelligence to empower agriculture, rural construction, new farmers, rural governance to promote common prosperity, give full play to the leading role of cultural tourism in rural development, understand the leading role of digital tool innovation in revitalizing non-standard rural resource assets, and mobilize rural sages to upgrade villages. They believed that the application of digital technology in the current rural revitalization should take strengthening attracting investment and attracting talents as the main goal, establishing the symbiotic relationship between village collectives and farmers as the core path, and stimulating citizens to go to the countryside for consumption, entrepreneurship and investment as the important means to attract people into the village and take goods out of the village to increase farmers' income.

In the round-table session, the following people discussed the new path of urban-rural convergence development, and exchanged views on how to obtain policy and financial support, cultivate digital technology talents, and promote the application of urban-rural interconnection model:

Boyang Shu, Associate Dean of Wuhan Branch of China Tourism Academy,

Kanliang Wang, Professor at Renmin University of China,

Songzhi Li, Vice President of Jiujiang University,

Junyun Chen, Second-class Investigator of the Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province,

Ze Xiang, Deputy Director of the Administration Committee of China National Trade OTOP (Chongqing) Digital Economy Innovation Base,

Xianmou Xie, Vice Mayor of Enshi, Hubei Province.

They said that it is necessary to take the development of rural characteristic industries as the direction, attract external capital from the government and enterprises, stimulate farmers' enthusiasm, and promote the development of village collective economy.

Zhenxing Dong, CPC Secretary of Jiukesong Village, Qichun County, and deputy to the National People's Congress, said that the application of the urban-rural interconnection model at Jiukesong Village has solved the problems of attracting people into the village and cultivating talents in rural revitalization, and promoted the convergence development of the first, second and third industries of Jiukesong Village.

On the afternoon of the same day, the Seminar on the Application Analysis and Implementation of the "Urban-Rural Interconnection Model" and the First Meeting of the Committee on Urban-Rural Convergence Development of the China Council for the Promotion of National Trade were held at the Wuhan Data Intelligence Research Institute. The participants had in-depth exchanges and discussions on issues such as rural revitalization, urban-rural convergence development and sustainable business operation in rural area.