Foreign students sought for competition

Foreign students and alumni of Shanghai universities are being encouraged to enter an innovation and startup competition with their Chinese counterparts.

The Shanghai session of the fifth China College Students' "Internet+" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was launched on Wednesday.

Students will be asked for their creative ideas in using Internet technologies, such as cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence, to promote new products, new services and new industrial and business models.

Preliminary contests will be held at local universities in May to select outstanding teams to compete in the citywide intermediary heat in June. Those winning through to the final will receive training during the summer vacation and compete with each other in July for places in the national final in Hangzhou in October.

The competition has attracted more than 5 million college students promoting 1.2 million programs since it was initiated in 2015 by the Ministry of Education.

Last year, 2.65 million students from more than 50 countries and regions took part in the competition with over 640,000 programs, while more than 1,000 investors, entrepreneurs, incubator runners and educators served as mentors and judges.

For more information, visit the event's website at cy.ncss.org.cn.