On the afternoon of November 24, the special lectures onDeveloping Agriculture and Empowering Rural Areas via Digital Businessof theLuojia SIM + E-commerce Forum, andthe events and activities of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the E-commerce major, School of Information Management, Wuhan University were held as scheduled.

Feicheng Ma, Senior Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at Wuhan University, andWei Lu, Dean of the SIM, Wuhan University, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

Jikun Huang, Professor at the School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, made the first academic report in the special lectures onDeveloping Agriculture and Empowering Rural Areas via Digital Business.

Jiang Wu, Associate Dean of the SIM, Wuhan University, presided over the event.

With the title ofOpportunities, Challenges and Development Thoughts in the Digital Technology Promoting Rural Revitalization,Jikun Huangelaborated how digital technology has promoted rural revitalization from three aspects: opportunities, challenges and development thoughts.

On the opportunities,Jikun Huangpointed out that a large number of government reports, media reports and practical cases all show that digital technology has played an important role in promoting rural revitalization in many aspects. He interpreted theDevelopment Plan of Digital Agriculture and Rural Areas (2019-2025)and theDevelopment Action Plan of Digital Rural (2022-2025), and took the Big Data Platform of the New Infrastructure of Agriculture and Rural Areas as an example, and put forward further issues to be considered on data demand, digital technology and management demand.

Jikun Huangsaid that a large number of digital rural pilot projects have been carried out smoothly with the positive promotion of governments at all levels in China, and a large number of agricultural companies and Internet companies have actively participated in the development of digital agriculture rural areas. Taking the case of drone subsidy as an example, he introduced the financial support policy for pilot projects, as well as different application scenarios and companies.Jikun Huangpointed out that the above-mentioned practice shows that the government attaches great importance to the strategy of promoting rural revitalization via digital technology.

Jikun Huanganalyzed on the practical effects and challenges of digital technology in promoting rural revitalization. He believed that the rapid development of information and communication technology, logistics and e-commerce has laid a foundation for the development of digital agriculture and rural areas. Through the in-depth study of the sales price, marketing cost and income of farmers' e-commerce and traditional sales, there was sufficient evidence that e-commerce can effectively increase farmers' income. Although the development of e-commerce has urged the new ecological structure of agricultural products, its contribution to rural revitalization and farmers' income increase is limited at the current stage. There is still a long way to realize developing agriculture and empowering rural areas via digital business, so that farmers can really gain more benefits.

Jikun Huangput forward the development thoughts and policy suggestions of digital technology in promoting rural revitalization. He believed that to develop digital technology to promote rural revitalization, we need to consider the characteristics of agricultural production fully.He expounded the actual needs of developing agriculture and rural areas from four aspects: agricultural production, circulation of agricultural products, rural construction and rural governance. "Fast, inclusive, sustainable and beneficial to the people",Jikun Huangsummed up the developmentthoughtsand policy suggestions of digital technology to promote rural revitalization with these words. He encouraged researchers to participate in more practical activities, learn from the first-hand practical cognition, and explore the huge scientific research potential and social value of developing agriculture and empowering rural areas via digital business.

In the discussion session, the experts and scholars exchanged ideas with Jikun Huang on the construction timelines of digital agriculture and rural areas, financial issues in agricultural supply chain, governance and others. More than 200 undergraduate and graduate students majoring in E-commerce and other students interested in e-commerce participated in the activities. Students expressed that this academic report and interaction enhanced their awareness of the social value and prospects of E-commerce greatly.

A series of special lectures onDeveloping Agriculture and Empowering Rural Areas via Digital Businesswere in the form of webinar, jointly organized by the School of Information Management, Wuhan University, and the journalData and Information Management. These lectures provide a platform for students majoring inE-commerce to know the professional frontier and the application scenarios of specialized knowledge.