Innovation surged along the banks of the Huangpu River. From October 12 to 15, the Grand Final of the 2024 China International College Students’ Innovation Competition and concurrent events were held in Shanghai. The competition was jointly organized by 12 departments, including the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the People's Government of Minhang District co-hosted the event. With the theme "Dare to Differ, Dare to Win," the competition has attracted 5.14 million projects and 20.836 million participants from 5,406 universities across 153 countries and regions since its launch in May, showcasing an international innovation gala uniting "hundreds of countries, thousands of colleges, and millions of people."
In the Grand Final, six teams from domestic and international universities competed on the same stage. Ultimately, the project titled "NEZHA—the World's First Hybrid Aerial Underwater Vehicle in Real Ocean" from Shanghai Jiao Tong University won the championship. The project "Virtual Computing Center: Grid-style Computing Power Scheduling Network" from Tsinghua University secured the second place. The third place goes to the four projects: "BOUNDLESS——New Generation Qing Outdoor Sports Communication Definer" from Xi'an University of Electronic Science and Technology, "Xishu Technology - zero carbon solar cross-season heat storage pioneer" from China University of Geosciences (Beijing), "Vastech Energy: the Next-generation Intrinsically Safe, High-power Energy Storage System" from University College London (UCL), and " MagOss: Customized Biodegradable Magnesium-Based Bone Implants" from University of New South Wales (UNSW).
Promoting the Integrated Development of Education, Science, and Talent through a “Three-in-One” Approach to Create an Innovation Platform for "Industry-Education Integration and Science-Education Collaboration"
This competition thoroughly implements the important thoughts of President Xi Jinping on education and the spirit of his important reply. It fully adheres to the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the National Education Conference, focusing on the new deployments and requirements for building a strong education system in China. It fully implements the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, promotes a systematic reform integrating education, science, and talent mechanisms, and actively advances innovation education throughout the entire educational process. The competition facilitates the application and commercialization of universities' innovative achievements, further serving the nation's major strategic needs and promoting high-quality economic and social development. The competition adheres to the philosophy of "promoting teaching, learning, and innovation through competitions," focusing on the overall goals of being "more Chinese, more international, more educational, more comprehensive, more innovative, and more collaborative." It deeply promotes the integration of vocational and general education, industry-education integration, and science-education collaboration, effectively positioning higher education as a leading force in building China into a strong education nation. The competition aims to cultivate young talents who are brave in innovation and creation, while continuing to build a world-renowned platform for cultural exchange between Chinese and foreign youths in this new era.
The competition includes several tracks: the Main Higher Education Track, the “Youth Red Dream Journey” Track, the Vocational Education Track, the Industrial Proposition Track, and the Emerging Track. In the Main Higher Education Track, built on the foundation of the “Four New Fields” (new engineering, new medicine, new agriculture, and new liberal arts), a new "AI+" track was introduced. It attracted 821,000 projects in new engineering, 192,000 in new medicine, 301,000 in new agriculture, 620,000 in new liberal arts, and 326,000 projects in the "AI+" track, fully igniting the innovation enthusiasm of students from various discipline
At the same time, the competition emphasizes integrated development by closely linking university innovation education with solving real-world industry problems, thus building a bridge between the education sector and the industrial sector. The Industrial Proposition Track follows the principle of "industry sets the problem, universities respond to the challenge, and students provide solutions." A total of 2,007 enterprises submitted 4,504 propositions, with 1,073 universities, 74,000 projects, and 311,000 participants registering for the track, effectively promoting industry-education integration and science-education collaboration. This track advances the interconnection of high-quality resources both inside and outside education and establishes a practical system for the “three-in-one” integration of education, science, and talent.
Top 100 Global Universities Gather at the Innovation Event; Special Research Findings on Global University Student Innovation Released
The competition deepened international exchange and cooperation, enhancing mutual learning among global youth by bringing together world-renowned universities, enterprises, and entrepreneurs. A total of 12,063 projects and 39,380 participants from 1,993 colleges in 149 countries and regions registered for the competition, including 152 top 100 global universities (based on QS, THE, U.S. News, and Shanghai Ranking), such as Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, MIT, and Cambridge. This truly became an international innovation event that attracted extensive attention and participation from young students worldwide.
During the Grand Final, the Innovation Forum for World University Students and the founding ceremony of the World University Student Innovation Alliance were held simultaneously. The event invited 350 attendees, including representatives from the United Nations and prominent university presidents from China and abroad. Jointly initiated by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Tianjin University, the Alliance aims to promote openness, cooperation, sharing, mutual support, and integration. It provides a platform for interaction between competition participants, enterprises, and investors and offers guidance and support to help innovative projects succeed. The Alliance gathers resources from companies, investment institutions, and industrial parks to provide service support for the commercialization of student innovations. To date, 56 universities from 19 countries and regions across five continents (including 30 international universities) and 21 enterprises have joined the Alliance.
During the founding ceremony, two major reports were released: "First Driving Force: The Development Report on World University Student Innovation" and "The Standard System for World University Student Innovation Index." First Driving Force is the world’s first in-depth research report that positions university students as the primary subjects of innovation. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the current status, challenges, opportunities, and strategic actions being undertaken by key global economies and international organizations to promote university student innovation. The report also puts forth recommendations for advancing global university student innovation education and strategic initiatives. The Standard System for World University Student Innovation Index is the world’s first evaluation index system assessing innovation and practical abilities of university students at the national/regional, university, and individual levels. The release of both the Report and the Index contributes China’s standards, wisdom, and solutions to global university student innovation and higher education talent development.
Writing a New Chapter Rooted in China with Innovative Practice Guiding Chinese Youth to Where They Are Needed the Most
In 2017, President Xi Jinping encouraged “Youth Red Dream Building Journey Track” students to stay grounded in China, understand its realities, and make substantial contributions to society. Over the past seven years, inspired by this message, millions of Chinese university students have applied their knowledge and innovation to address real-world challenges, making a tangible impact where the Party and the people need them the most.
On June 12, 2024, the national launch ceremony for this year’s “Youth Red Dream Building Journey” event took place at the General Assembly and Manufacturing Center of COMAC, inspiring and guiding students to take root in China, experience hardships, see the world, and grow their talents through innovative practice. Representatives from across the country shared their experiences under the theme “My Position is in the Countryside, Workshop, Desert, Sea, and Sky”. They discussed their hands-on work in areas such as rural healthcare, smart manufacturing, environmental sustainability, and marine and aerospace technology, illustrating how today’s Chinese youth are addressing national priorities and contributing to the Party’s and the people’s goals.
According to statistics, since the launch of this year's "Youth Red Dream Journey" event, a total of 4.8 million university students have contribute to old revolutionary areas and vast urban and rural communities to participate in the related activities and take an innovative “golden ideological and political course” that carries patriotism, using innovative practice to serve urban and rural economic and social development.
Intended investment of 6.803 billion Received, Creating an Acceleration in the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements
The resource matching meeting for outstanding projects in the competition was held at the conference center of the Grand NeoBay on the morning of October 15. More than 400 people including relevant investment institutions, industry enterprises, and representatives of projects participated in the event. As an important concurrent event of the finals, this meeting focuses on the needs of national strategic industries, pays attention to building strong school-enterprise cooperation entities, and effectively plays the role of evaluation as a "baton", promotes the innovation of the system and mechanism of university enterprises, and strives to solve the transfer problems. The meeting builds a bridge between the education end and the industry end, deepens cooperation with regional transfer, transformation centers and national university science and technology centers, encourages and supports investment and financing institutions to obtain sharp vision and wisdom, and actively participate in the investment and financing matching activities of the competition, “invest early, invest small, invest long-term, and invest in hard technology”, it promotes the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of young students, and smooth the education chain, talent chain, innovation chain, and industrial chain, so that innovative achievements can be accelerated into real productivity.
During the meeting, Yang Yahui, co-founder and deputy general manager of Zhonghao Xinying, conducted a roadshow entitled “Instant Inspiration, Touching Dreams”, detailing the research and development of their high-performance AI processor, striving to achieve the instant speed of AI large model training, and making every effort to create “China” chips to help country's artificial intelligence industry development. Qian Ji, representative of the investment company Hongshan Capital, commented on the roadshow project based on the value, market demand and technical advantages, and spoke highly of the project. Zhou Hongjian, co-founder and chairman of Shanghai Jiaocheng Ultrasonic Technology Co., Ltd., gave a keynote speech. Jiaocheng Ultrasonic originated from a project jointly created by professors and students of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, focusing on ultrasonic technology and applications. After several years of technical breakthroughs, it has achieved independent control of ultrasonic cutting knife production. Through horizontal projects, joint training and other methods, it has strong cooperation with the university to form a industry-education cooperation model integrating science and technology, education and talents. 10 companies including Zhonghao Xinying signed contracts with investment companies, with a contract value of 558 million yuan.
Since the launch of the competition, more than 30 online and offline resource matching meetings have been held, providing a display platform for university students' innovative projects and building a bridge for communication and cooperation between project teams and investors. According to incomplete statistics, the competition resource matching activities have helped participating projects obtain investment intentions of 6.803 billion yuan.
Showcasing Innovative Project to Inspire Students to Pursue Their Dreams with Vigor and Vitality
During the finals, the University Student Innovation Exhibition and Resource Matching Conference were held simultaneously. The exhibition, themed “Aiming High, Staying Grounded, and Innovating for the Future”, showcased the stories of young people with a strong sense of national responsibility, highlighting the competition’s success in promoting innovation through education. The exhibition featured 28 projects from universities, vocational schools, and high schools, all gold-medal winners from past competitions. These projects spanned fields such as information technology, aerospace, new materials, agricultural ecology, AI, and healthcare.
The “Aiming High” section displayed key projects in aerospace, IT, new materials, and high-end equipment, demonstrating students’ commitment to deepening their expertise and pursuing cutting-edge research. "Shenyan Technology" project from Tsinghua University is the runner-up project of the 2023 competition. It uses large-scale pre-training model technology to create a new generation of intelligent information processing platform, reshape the entire information processing process for information-intensive organizations, and the company founded by the project has received four rounds of financing with more than 500 million yuan. The “Staying Grounded” section focused on new agriculture, emerging manufacturing, and rural sports, reflecting the determination of young students to root their work in China and take on the mission of national rejuvenation. "Grassland Restoration" project by Lanzhou University focuses on solving grassland degradation, rampant poisonous weeds, and urgent need to restore grassland ecology on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It carries out the domestication and breeding of native grass species, and builds a "technical product + training and promotion" ecological restoration and herders' assistance collaborative model, which has promoted grassland restoration in an area of 16,000 hectares and helped herders increase their annual forage production by 450 tons. The “Innovating for the Future” section showcased cutting-edge projects from international students, high school and university students, , highlighting China’s forward-thinking approach to technology. "AI Networked Visual Recognition Road Warning Robot" project by Guangdong Guangya Middle School is dedicated to solving the problem of poor warning effect and high risk of secondary accidents caused by manually placing triangle signs after traffic accidents. It uses IoT technology to create intelligent robot equipment based on hobbies and interests, and automatically moves to a designated location to alert oncoming vehicles after an accident. The project product has passed professional verification tests and has received project recommendation letters and letters of intent for cooperation from many industry companies.
The competition’s mascot, “Hu Chuang Chuang” (refer to “Shanghai Pioneer”), made its debut as an AI digital assistant, adding a unique blend of technology and culture to the event. Dressed in a top hat and suit with a distinct Shanghai style and wearing a magnolia brooch symbolizing the city, “Hu Chuang Chuang” reflects the competition’s innovative spirit and cultural essence. Throughout the event, it accompanied young innovators on their journey of technological exploration.