On the afternoon of September 4, the "Expert Symposium on Mechanisms and Pathways for Transforming Agricultural Ecological Value on a World-Class Ecological Island," jointly organized by the Chongming District Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, was held at the Minhang Campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The symposium fully embodied the deep university-locality collaboration between SJTU and Chongming District and represented an important initiative to empower the ecological industry transformation of a world-class ecological island through scientific and technological innovation. Zhang Wei, Party Secretary and Chairman of the Chongming District CPPCC, and Zhang Zhaoguo, Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, attended the meeting. The symposium specially invited Wang Younian, former President of Beijing University of Agriculture; Wu Aizhong, former Party Secretary and President of the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Sun Hongwu, Vice President of the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Xie Haiguang, Vice President of the Shanghai Information Services Association; Gao Yang, Special Research Fellow at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Zhou Sheng, Chief Expert of the Low-Carbon and Circular Agriculture Team at the Institute of Ecology, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Cao Linkui, Professor at the School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; and Professor Yin Shan, Vice Dean of the School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, among other experts, to provide guidance. The symposium was chaired by Fan Hongmei, Vice Chairwoman of the Chongming District CPPCC.

In his address, Zhang Wei introduced the development journey of Chongming's construction as a world-class ecological island. He noted that Chongming still faces challenges in promoting the realization of agricultural ecological product value, including a lack of systematic planning in industrial layout, insufficient core competitiveness of specialty agricultural products, and inadequate brand recognition. He looked forward to the experts' valuable insights to inject new momentum into the realization of Chongming's agricultural ecological product value.

In his address, Zhang Zhaoguo stated that Chongming is a highly unique and valuable development space for Shanghai. The construction of a world-class ecological island carries the important mission of ecological protection and represents an important practice for Shanghai in exploring green development, urban-rural integration, and harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. In recent years, cooperation between Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Chongming has continued to deepen. With the ongoing advancement of the Chongming Campus construction and functional layout, the collaboration between the two sides is moving from cooperation at the level of individual research topics, projects, and activities toward a more long-term and in-depth stage of development. In particular, Professor Zhou Pei's team has long conducted research on urban agriculture, ecological agriculture, and urban-rural integration development, and has maintained long-term attention to and service for Chongming, carrying out extensive work in scientific research, think tank studies, platform development, and local practice. The university hopes to further pool disciplinary, talent, and research strengths in ecology, agriculture, and other fields, gradually establish long-term platforms for research, talent cultivation, and achievement transformation in Chongming, and encourage more teams to take root there, so that university-locality cooperation truly moves from "project cooperation" to "joint development."

Professor Zhou Pei, Distinguished Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Chairman of the Urban Agriculture and Leisure Agriculture Branch of the Chinese Association of Agricultural Science Societies, and Director of the Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, delivered a comprehensive report on the preliminary research findings of the project "Mechanisms and Pathways for Transforming Urban Agricultural Ecological Value in Chongming." He systematically reviewed Chongming's agricultural ecological resource endowments, existing bottlenecks in value transformation, and pathways for science and technology innovation empowerment, providing detailed explanations around core content including ecological value quantification standards, transformation mechanism construction, industrial model innovation, and achievement application. He stated that Chongming has obvious ecological endowment advantages and a solid agricultural development foundation. It should rely on the Yangtze River Delta Agricultural Silicon Valley and the construction of the SJTU Chongming Campus to strengthen scientific and technological innovation and institutional innovation, promote the transformation of ecological advantages into development advantages, and form a demonstration-worthy "Chongming Solution."

Cao Zhengwei, Deputy Director of the Strategic Center of the New Rural Development Research Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a member of the project team, presented phased research findings on the basic conditions, practical problems, and possible pathways for realizing the value of Chongming's agricultural ecological products, and proposed countermeasures for further improving the identification, quantification, and transformation mechanisms of agricultural ecological value.

During the expert discussion session, participating experts engaged in in-depth exchanges on issues including ecological value accounting, industrial integration, brand building, market mechanisms, and policy support, drawing on their respective research fields and practical experience. The experts noted that the research findings are solid, the problems accurately identified, and the research approach clear, with strong practical relevance and forward-looking vision. The experts unanimously agreed that promoting the transformation of Chongming's agricultural ecological advantages into development advantages requires greater emphasis on the synergy between ecological protection and industrial development. While firmly safeguarding the ecological foundation, the comprehensive value of agricultural ecological resources should be fully tapped. At the same time, coordination across science and technology, industry, market, and policy should be strengthened to explore pathways for realizing agricultural ecological value that suit Chongming's characteristics and have sustainable development capacity, promoting a virtuous interaction among ecological protection, industrial development, and rural revitalization.

In his closing summary, Zhou Pei organized and reviewed the opinions and suggestions put forward by the experts. The project team will fully incorporate the outcomes of this symposium, further improve the research framework and countermeasures, enhance the relevance, practicality, and operability of the research findings, and promote the exploration of more practice-oriented ideas in Chongming.

The construction of Chongming as a world-class ecological island is an important practice in ecological civilization development and green development of a mega-city. This symposium further pooled professional strengths from universities, research institutes, government departments, and the industrial sector, providing multidimensional perspectives for in-depth research on the mechanisms and pathways for transforming agricultural ecological value, and further deepening exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Chongming in urban modern agriculture, ecological civilization development, and rural revitalization. Looking ahead, both sides will continue to leverage their respective advantages, strengthen coordination in research, think tanks, talent, and practical resources, and jointly explore and produce more practical outcomes featuring Shanghai characteristics, Chongming features, and SJTU contributions.