The 20th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM) was held in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, from Aug. 8 to 10. Co-hosted by the Research Center for Contemporary Management of Tsinghua University (RCCM), Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM), Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics (JUFE), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the conference was organized by the School of Information Management and Mathematics of JUFE.

Chen Jian, professor and director of RCCM at Tsinghua University, and Professor Cai Xiaoqiang from CUHK-Shenzhen served as the honorary chairs of the conference. Xiao Yongbo, professor and research fellow at Tsinghua RCCM, Professor Xu Xiaolin from Nanjing University, and Professor Chen Sihua from JUFE acted as the co-chairs. More than 400 experts, scholars, and industry professionals from over 100 universities and institutions around the world — including China, the U.S., and Canada — participated in the two-day forum. Centering on the theme of "Next-Generation Service Systems: Operations Management in the AGI Era," they shared cutting-edge research findings and discussed how artificial general intelligence (AGI) is reshaping the theoretical system, methodological paradigms, and application scenarios of service and operations management.

Participants attend the opening ceremony of the 20th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management.

In his speech, Liu Yaobin, professor and Party secretary of JUFE, stated that against the backdrop of AGI accelerating the reshaping of the global industrial landscape, the conference and its theme are not only a positive response to the propositions of the times but also an important opportunity to promote the innovative development of service science and operations management.

Liu Yaobin delivers a speech.

Xiao Yongbo expressed his gratitude to the conference's organizer and the participating experts and scholars. Since its founding in 2004, ICSSSM has been committed to exploring the challenges and transformations in the fields of service systems and service management, and has become an influential international academic exchange platform in the fields of management science and systems engineering. This year's conference aims to promote academic discussions and serve industry practices by exploring how complex AGI technology will reshape the future landscape of service systems and service management, Xiao said.

Xiao Yongbo delivers a speech.

Chen Jian moderates the keynote presentation segment.

The conference consisted of three plenary keynote speeches, 15 distinguished scholar presentations, and 50 parallel forums. In the plenary keynote session, Professor Wang Feiyue from the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASIA) delivered a speech titled "Parallel Management for Parallel Economics with New AI: From LaSEE to CiSEE," proposing an adaptive framework for parallel management and new AI in the context of parallel economics. Professor HU Ming from the University of Toronto gave a presentation titled "Supply-Demand Matching in Space." Combining cases of the on-demand economy and global supply chains, he discussed optimization models for spatial supply-demand matching. Qi Hongsheng, director of intelligent data at the AI Lab of Lenovo Research, delivered a report titled "Hybrid AI: Revolutionizing Supply Chain Serviceability." By introducing Lenovo's practices in supply chain intelligence, he demonstrated the practical value of hybrid AI agents in enhancing supply chain resilience.

Keynote Speakers (from left to right): Wang Feiyue, Hu Ming, Qi Hongsheng

Fifteen scholars from home and abroad delivered presentations at the conference. They including Associate Professor Ding Yichuan from McGill University, Professor Feng Juan from Tsinghua University, Professor Guo Pengfei from City University of Hong Kong, Professor Jiang Zhongzhong from Northeastern University, Professor Liu Yunchuan from the University of Illinois, Professor Long Zhuoyu from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor QI Jin from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Associate Professor Pan Kai from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Professor Tian Lin from Fudan University, Professor Wang Tong from City University of Hong Kong, Professor Wang Yulan from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Professor Wu Xiaole from Fudan University, Professor Zhang Xiaowei from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Professor Zhang Yue from Duke University, and Professor Zhong Yuanguang from South China University of Technology.

The 50 parallel forums held in-depth discussions on a wide range of themes, including the application of AI in service system design, operation, and innovation; platform operation analysis and on-demand service management; digital transformation and service innovation; green supply chain management in the service industry; smart supply chain and sustainable operations management; data and decision intelligence; intelligent decision-making and information governance; as well as supply chain optimization and risk management driven by intelligent technologies.

Li Chungen, vice president of JUFE, attends the awards ceremony and delivers a speech.

A total of one First Prize, three Second Prizes, seven Third Prizes, and six Merit Awards for Best Paper were awarded at the conference.

The Best Paper Awards ceremony at the 20th ICSSSM.

A special ICSSSM 20th Anniversary Celebration was held during the awards ceremony, featuring a retrospective of memorable moments from the previous 19 conferences. Chen Jian and Cai Xiaoqiang delivered speeches, and all past chairs of the conference took the stage together to witness this significant occasion.

The conference chairs took the stage together for a group photo to mark the special ICSSSM 20th Anniversary Celebration.

The ICSSSM primarily focuses on the latest academic topics in service management, operations management, and business administration. Since 2004, the conference has been hosted in various Chinese cities, including Beijing, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xiamen, Dalian, Shenzhen, Nanjing, and Yinchuan. The event plays a crucial role in technical consultation, science popularization, cultural preservation, and project collaboration within the field. It has become a highly influential academic conference in the disciplines of management science and systems engineering.

The 21st ICSSSM will be held at the University of Oxford in the U.K.

Editor: Ren Zhongxi