To promote the integration of modern seed industry and artificial intelligence, the engineering and intelligent upgrading of breeding technology, and global practice and innovation in digital breeding, the "1st International Symposium on Data-driven Digital Breeding in Maize," co-hosted by Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and co-organized by the CIMMYT-China Specialty Maize Research Center, Shanghai Specialty Maize Engineering Technology Research Center, Shanghai Municipal Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genetics and Breeding, and the Digital Seed Industry Alliance, was held in Shanghai on September 2-3, 2024. Cai Youming, President of SAAS, B. M. Prasanna, Director of the Global Maize Program of CIMMYT and chairman of the Maize Committee of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and more than 100 experts and scholars from international and domestic research institutions and seed companies such as CIMMYT, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences attended the symposium. The opening ceremony was presided over by Shen Xiaohui, vice president of SAAS.

President Cai Youming delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the organizers, welcoming the guests. He pointed out that with the advancement of life sciences and technology, breakthroughs in AI, big data, and other technologies have driven crop breeding into the era of digital breeding, and data-driven intelligent digital breeding has brought infinite space for seed industry innovation. He said that this symposium will further strengthen in-depth exchanges and cooperation of SAAS, CIMMYT, domestic and foreign research institutes, and help enhance data-driven intelligent digital breeding innovation capabilities in Shanghai.

B. M. Prasanna introduced the focus of CIMMYT's work under the background of smart breeding and the era of artificial intelligence, the progress in the precise identification of germplasm phenotypes, genomic selection/prediction, gene editing, data and analysis, and proposed the cooperation plan and work vision between CIMMYT and China.

Zheng Hongjian, Director of the CIMMYT-China Specialty Maize Research Center, introduced the progress and effectiveness of the research progress of molecular breeding of specialty maize in recent years. He proposed that the new round of cooperation in the next five years would focus on the innovative application of digital breeding technology to promote the digital transformation and upgrading of fresh corn seed industry in Shanghai.

Participants visited the maize experimental base, new variety testing base, and medicinal and edible crop demonstration base in Zhuangxing Comprehensive Experimental Station after the symposium.