The 2026 Yangtze River Delta AI Scenario Innovation Forum was held at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) on September 6 under the theme "AI Needs Scenarios to Land, and Scenarios Need Talent to Deliver." At the forum, the Antai College of Economics and Management (ACEM) unveiled the first batch of AI scenario lists and the first group of ecosystem partners under its "100 Industries, 1,000 Enterprises" 10×100 AI Scenario Co-Creation Initiative, announced a strategic cooperation with Datawhale, a leading open-source AI learning community, and launched the FDE (Forward-Deployed Engineer) Talent Specialized Cultivation Program, together with the "AI+X" practical courses and FDE featured courses of the Antai MBA.

The forum came as China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued a notice on cultivating AI application service providers, encouraging universities to build training bases with leading service providers and cultivate composite application talent who "understand business, master models, uphold security and deliver results," while urging providers to establish forward-deployed engineer teams rooted in user sites to ensure scenarios are implemented.

It also marked the next step in a reform announced less than a month ago. On August 16, SJTU launched the AI-Era Business Talent Alliance and kicked off the 10×100 initiative, which plans to develop and deploy 1,000 real-world AI scenarios with partners across industries over ten years, alongside the Antai MBA's "Five-Link Talent" cultivation reforms. The first scenarios have now entered co-creation, moving Antai MBA's AI-era talent cultivation from system reform to industry practice.

First Scenario List Brings Industry Demand into the Classroom

The release of the first AI scenario list marks the 10×100 initiative's shift from scenario collection and mechanism building to project co-creation. Drawn from real business needs at the industry frontline, the scenarios will feed into Antai MBA practical teaching, specialized training and "AI+X" courses — turning enterprise problems into classroom projects, where students complete demand analysis, solution design and industrial validation in real-world settings.

"The release of the first scenario list carries the August 16 forum forward, from system reform to industry practice," said Chen Fangruo, Dean of ACEM and Dean of the ACEM Industry Research Institute. "Business education for the intelligent era must keep iterating its training goals, curricula and training models around real industry pain points. By bringing complex frontline problems into the entire talent cultivation process, we enable students to understand the relationship between technology, organization and business by solving real problems."

The forum was moderated by Zhu Xi, Associate Dean of ACEM.

Ecosystem Partners Connect FDE Talent with Real-World Cases

Landing AI scenarios requires not only genuine problems from enterprises, but also the participation of technology communities, professional talent and higher education. At the forum, ACEM announced the first group of scenario co-creation ecosystem partners and entered into a strategic cooperation with Datawhale. The two sides will collaborate on composite talent cultivation and practical course development, real AI scenario collection and industry case development, launching the "FDE 100 Pioneers" and "FDE 100 Cases" programs and releasing FDE featured case courses — building an open ecosystem that runs from scenario discovery to talent cultivation, and from practical cases to classroom transformation.

"Forward-deployed engineers go deep into real business sites and turn business problems into deliverable AI solutions," said Fan Jingjing, founder of Datawhale. "Their hallmark is understanding business, mastering models, upholding security and being accountable for results. FDEs are not trained in classrooms — they are identified through real projects. This program recognizes talent through cases and certifies it through outcomes, making what a few people can achieve into methods that hundreds of industries and thousands of enterprises can apply."

"AI+X" Courses Bring Real Industry Problems into the MBA

The "Five-Link Talent" cultivation ecosystem released on August 16 introduced agile reforms: starting with the class of 2027, the Antai MBA will adopt a flexible credit system and a two-year curriculum, with practice-oriented courses accounting for no less than a quarter of total teaching hours, sharpening three core capabilities — AI for Operations (AI4O), forward-deployed engineering (FDE) and full-stack entrepreneurship (OPC) — through real industry scenarios.

"The 'AI+X' practical courses released at this forum will further consolidate the Antai MBA reform," said Chen Jianke, Assistant Dean of ACEM and Director of the Antai MBA Center. "They embed real industry scenarios, enterprise cases and FDE practical capabilities into the curriculum, enabling students to develop these abilities in real industry settings."

The forum also featured a keynote address by Xu Huan, Professor and Chair of ACEM's Department of Management Science, Director of the AI MBA Program and former Algorithm Director at Alibaba Group, along with panel discussions and roundtables on FDE competencies and AI scenario development, FDE project roadshows, and AI scenario exhibitions and matchmaking sessions.

With the first scenario list and first ecosystem partners in place, and "AI+X" courses ready to carry industrial scenarios into the classroom, ACEM is steadily connecting scenarios, talent, cases and courses — letting real industry demand reach deeper into MBA education. Going forward, the college will build on the AI-Era Business Talent Alliance and the 10×100 co-creation ecosystem to advance an ecological cultivation paradigm that links students to intelligence, entrepreneurship, industry, the world and the full resources of SJTU, empowering the industrialization of AI through talent. As the forum's theme puts it: AI needs scenarios to land, and scenarios need talent to deliver.