After two days of competition, the finals of the 3rd National Innovation and Creation Competition for Primary and Secondary School Students,concluded in Beijing on June 2.

Eight teams, including "Spark", "The Strongest Team on Earth" and "Conquer Tsinghua and Peking University", won gold medals, 12 teams won silver medals, 10 teams won bronze medals and 10 teams won outstanding prizes. The "Spark" team also won the Academician Special Award. In addition, the Best Technology Award and the Best Innovation Award were given out.

The winning teams are receiving awards. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Li Ping, president of Science and Technology Daily, one of the event's organizer, said that the competition, with the theme of "Scientific and Technological Winter Olympics and Smart Life", had two sub-divisions: Smart Maker and AI Earth.

After fierce competition, a total of 120 teams advanced to the finals. The finals lasted two days, during which the finalists, who were reclassified into 40 large groups without consideration of age and region, completed a real scene simulation of the Winter Olympics, defense, on-spot learning and competition, and other tasks.

A participant is working on his entry. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A participant is competing with others. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"The Innovation and Creation Competition provided Winter Olympics scenes for children to conduct scientific research and exploration, which not only improved the children's scientific literacy, but also promoted the popularization of the Winter Olympics." Chang Yu, director of the Publicity Department of the Organizing Committee of the Beijing Olympic Games, said of the competition.

Fan Weicheng, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, dean of the Institute of Public Safety Research at Tsinghua University and leader of the Scientific and Technological Winter Olympics Expert Team, believed that the competition would inspire the daily study of the Institute of Public Safety Research of Tsinghua University and the Scientific and Technological Winter Olympics 2022 project.

To cultivate lifelong learners embodying the spirit of the times, the ability to innovate, and patriotism in the era of globalization is the original intention and goal of the competition. This is also appealing to students.

Participants are working on their entries. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Participants are working on their entries. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Liu Xiwei from the Qingdao Academy of Intelligent Industries of the Institute of Automation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who participated in the design of the competition, said that its purpose was to test and cultivate the high-level abilities of students, focusing on the unique abilities distinguishing human beings from machines, such as the ability to conduct complex learning, comprehensively apply knowledge and innovate. These abilities are also essential for the competitiveness of future talents.

Liu said that as the country pays more and more attention to STEM education and artificial intelligence education, various competitions are constantly emerging of varying quality. "Some competitions may even mislead people's understanding of the ability to innovate. Therefore, we hope that events such as the Innovation and Creation Competition can play an important role in cultivating students' abilities and become part of the innovative education system.”

The Innovation and Creation Competition has become a important demonstration event for the National Science and Technology Week and a national competition for primary and secondary school students approved by the Ministry of Education in 2019.

Apart from combining scientific and technological innovation with the popularization of science, the competition also aims to popularize the Winter Olympics among primary and secondary school students in its unique form.

The competition was also hosted by the China Association of Inventions.