In order to implement the initiatives and proposals made by President Xi Jinping at the Opening Ceremony of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and proactively undertake the activities and tasks in the Dakar Action Plan (2022-2024), the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the China Science and Technology Exchange Center, and the Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province will jointly organize “2023 China-Africa Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition”, the details of which are as follows:

1. Theme and content of the event

With the theme of “Science, technology and innovation contribute to the sustainable development of China-Africa partnership”, the event focuses on digital economy and innovative services, circular economy and industrial manufacturing, healthcare and modern agriculture. The competition aims to further stimulate the innovation and entrepreneurship vitality of Chinese and African youths, broaden the space for innovation and entrepreneurship cooperation, and build a platform for China-Africa youth exchange and cooperation to facilitate China-Africa economic development and people-to-people exchanges.

2. Categories and fields

The projects are divided intotwo categories:

1) those intended to be put into practical application in African countries and

2) those intended to be put into practical application in China. With regard to the projects intended to be put into practical application in China, their teams should include citizens of African countries.

Semi-finalSemi-finals of the above-mentioned fields organized in Shanghai, Qingdao and Wuhan respectivelyin October, 2023.

The competition is divided into three fields:

1) digital economy and innovative services,

2) circular economy and industrial manufacturing,

3) healthcare and modern agriculture.

PASCHAL JAO who is a second-year PhD student of UESTC, participated in all three categories and reached the semi-finals in all of them.

And in one of those categories, he won the 2nd prize (Trophy and Honorary Credential Certificate) in the semi-finals (Digital economy and innovative services) . His project was called SOLAR ENERGY-IoT. The competition was held and hosted by Tongji University on 28th October 2023.