The China-U.S. Youth Maker Competition held its award ceremony and finals open day on July 31 at Zhangjiang Science Hall in Pudong, Shanghai. Anchored in U.S.-China people-to-people dialogue, the event features breakthrough projects by young creators from both countries and serves as a springboard for transnational innovation and business cooperation.

Ren Youqun, Vice Minister of Education, and He Qing, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, were among the senior officials at the event. Donghua Vice President Chen Ge also attended and presented awards to the competition's winning teams.

The International Education Center brought a group of Donghua's international students to the ceremony and the open-day exhibitions, where teams from Tsinghua, Peking, and other top Chinese universities were showcasing their projects. The Donghua students moved through the displays, stopping to learn about the technology behind each project and its path to the market. They also talked at length with the makers themselves, trading ideas on design and engineering. For many of them, it was an eye-opening experience—a rare chance to see China's best young innovators at work and to think about their own place in the global innovation landscape.

Donghua has been bringing its international students to innovation events like this for years. The university sees these experiences as valuable supplements to classroom learning, and plans to keep expanding its roster of such activities through partnerships with youth exchange platforms.

Source: Donghua University