The First "Xinxin Cup" of China Youth Innovation Contest and Publicity and Educational Campaign of Intellectual Property Rights, co-sponsored by the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) and the Chinese Society of Education (CSE), was launched at the People's Great Hall in Beijing on 26 March. Zhang Huaixi, vice-Chairman of China People's Political Consultative Congress (CPPCC) and CSE Honorary President, Jiang Ying, member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Executive Member of the Organizational Committee of the Contest, Gu Mingyuan, CSE President and Guo Yongfu, CSE Executive Vice-President was present at the launching ceremony together with more than 200 representatives from all walks of life. The contest was an active response to the new policy of establishing an innovative country, aiming at popularizing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) education among young people and promoting innovation education in middle and primary schools in China.

According to the organizational committee, the Contest was organized by the Development and Research Center for Secondary Education of CSE and assisted by 16 universities, including Shanghai Jiaotong University, Tianjin University, Beijing Institute of Technology and etc. with the theme of establishing an innovative country, popularizing IPR education and nurturing innovative talents. It is expected to be held once a year. The event was significant with some new features. All the contestants do not need to bring their work to the competition while all the work is required to be finished on-site. The organizers hope that every contestant, by participating in the Contest, can understand innovation and learn how to be innovative. For some of the contestants, their work can even reach the level of patent registration resulting from the improvement of their innovation capability. All the schools at primary and secondary education level and off-campus educational institutions around China can organize their teams for the Contest. The related documents and application forms can be downloaded from the Contest's official website, www.china1847.com and SIPO's website, www.sipo.gov.cn.

The main events of the Contest will include, spontaneous on-site essay contest titled "I and IPR", IPR quiz contest, innovation proposals competition, model making contest, creative painting contest, animation making contest, and etc. In addition, training courses for contestants and their supervising teachers, speeches given by experts, seminars of innovative headmasters and other series of activities will also be organized. The organizational committee will arrange the contestants to visit SIPO, Beijing University, Qinghua University and some companies of independent innovation. An awarding ceremony is also expected. 

Jiang Ying pointed out in his speech at the launching ceremony that the youth was the future of the country. An innovative country could not be established without the innovation education to the youth and the awareness of IPR protection. The China Youth Innovation Contest and Publicity and Educational Campaign of Intellectual Property Rights was an innovative activity with significant meaning and is helpful for the growth of the young people. Lin Binghui delivered a speech on behalf of SIPO. He said that the invention and innovation among young people have drawn wide attention from the Chinese society in recent years. The patents applied by young people for registration have increased gradually year by year. It was significant to nurture the innovative capability and to raise the awareness of IPR protection among young people through IPR education and activities focused on invention and creation. The whole society should carry out IPR education extensively and continuously so that the whole society will merit the norms that innovation is highly regarded and IPR respected.

It is also understood that relative selection contests or recommendation activities will be organized for the Contest during the IPR Protection Education Week all over China after the launching ceremony. The final contest is expected to be held in Beijing on between 19 and 26 July, 2007.

 

2007-03-30

2007-03-30