Alibaba hiring seed-breeding scientists to develop next-gen ‘chips of agriculture’ at its research unit Damo Academy
The lead scientist in the field will use AI, biotech and other cutting-edge technologies to solve major challenges in the field of intelligent seed breeding
The focus on seed breeding aligns with Beijing’s food security priorities and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma’s interest in sustainable agriculture
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding is looking to hire life intelligence scientists to lead the field of “smart breeding” for its Damo Academy, according to three job postings published this week, as it seeks to promote development in China’s seed industry.
The company’s research institute has roles open for high-performance computing scientists, life science scientists and technology experts in the field. The team and its lead scientist will use artificial intelligence (AI), bioinformatics, computational biology, statistics and other cutting-edge technologies to solve major challenges for intelligent seed breeding.
The initiative aims to “build up a whole supply chain and an intelligent public service sector for smart breeding, providing important technical support to accelerate the cultivation of new crop varieties”, it added.
Seed breeding uses cross-pollination to develop new plant varieties with desired traits such as higher yields and resistance to disease and climate change.
Development in the sector is of growing interest to Beijing, which places food security among its highest national priorities amid rising geopolitical uncertainties. Earlier this year, Chinese officials sounded the alarm about “over-reliance” on seed imports from major exporters like the US.
Dubbed the essential “chips of agriculture”, seeds bred in China are generally considered low in quality and efficiency, with the industry suffering from a lack of innovation and low crop yields compared with the global market, according to an article published by the country’s top agricultural journal, China Seed Industry, in April.
In response, experts have called on the government to increase collaboration between universities and companies to employ smarter breeding techniques to ensure China’s population of 1.4 billion people has enough food, given limited arable land and water resources.
Advancements in AI are now offering new opportunities in seed design innovation, and the technology is already being used extensively in some breeding processes, according to a recent report led by the Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Changchun.
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Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?
Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?
With more information and statistics on plant genetics and traits becoming digitally available, the computational power of AI can be used to better systematise and analyse this data for future breeding decisions, the report said.
Hangzhou-based Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, established the Damo Academy in 2017 to focus on fundamental science and disruptive innovation. The academy is also hiring experts in other fields that are of interest to the central government, including quantum computing, semiconductors and machine learning.
Co-founder Jack Ma, who no longer holds any corporate roles at Alibaba, has recently shifted his focus to agriculture and farming technologies, making several international trips to learn about sustainable food production in the past few years.
As of May, Ma has been a visiting professor at Tokyo College, where he focuses on sustainable agriculture and food production, according to the school’s website.
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