The National Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition (hereinafter referred to as the "Contest") was founded in 1982. It is a youth science and technology innovation competition co-organized by the China Association for Science and Technology, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the All-China Women's Federation, etc., aiming to discover and cultivate young people with reserve talents for scientific and technological innovation. The 2025 competition will see new changes in the target targets and mechanisms of the competition. On January 14, the head of the Youth Science and Technology Center of the China Association for Science and Technology interpreted the latest "Implementation Measures for the National Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition (Trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Measures").

Q: What are the most important reform measures in the "Implementation Measures"?

A: The "Implementation Measures" released this time are applicable to competitions and have undergone major reforms in terms of participation objects, organizational methods, competition rules, etc.

First, in terms of the competition, the focus is on young people aged 15 to 24. Participants are divided into youth group (18 to 24 years old) and youth group (15 to 17 years old) according to their age group.

The second is to create a youth science and technology competition matrix by widely gathering high-quality event resources of national societies and local science and technology associations. The main event content includes selection of related events, recommendation of contestants, and holding on-site events of the competition.

Third, in terms of evaluation mechanism, no longer evaluate the contestants’ innovative works, but focus on on-site inspection and objective evaluation, and focus on examining the contestants’ knowledge application, hands-on practice, innovative thinking, critical spirit and teamwork ability, break the phenomenon of “one work conquers the world” and ensure fairness and justice of the competition.

Fourth, in terms of the reward mechanism, the organizing committee established the "China Association for Science and Technology Chairman Award" and widely jointly established special awards with social institutions to provide follow-up growth support for the winners and enhance the participants' sense of honor and gain.

Q: How to select contestants? Which youth competitions can be recommended as participants in related competitions?

A: The competition organizing committee will conduct application and selection of science and technology competitions for young people aged 18 to 24 for national societies, associations, and research associations (hereinafter referred to as "National Society"), and will conduct application and selection of science and technology competitions for young people aged 15 to 17 for provincial science and technology associations. In principle, each unit is limited to applying for one competition, and the selected event will be used as a competition related event to carry out player recommendations and related organizational work. The list of related competitions will be dynamically adjusted and will be selected every two years.

The selection criteria for related events are divided into youth group and youth group:

The applicants for youth group must in principle be events hosted by the National Society. The application event is for young people aged 18 to 24, and competitions with high internationalization are given priority. The scale of the event is required to be held for at least two consecutive sessions, with no less than 300 scientific and technological workers participating in training and guidance for each event, and no less than 1,000 participants. The event must meet the overall requirements of the "four aspects", and focus on the disciplines corresponding to major scientific issues, engineering and technical problems, and industrial technical issues issued by the annual meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology, including basic science of mathematics, physics and chemistry, life and health, earth science, ecological environment, manufacturing technology, etc., and give priority to basic disciplines, emerging disciplines, and interdisciplinary events that meet the national strategic development needs and focus on the development of new quality productivity.

The youth group application event is for teenagers aged 15 to 17, with the main goal of stimulating young people's scientific interest and cultivating scientific and technological practice abilities; there are scientific and standardized event organization procedures, and a scientific and moral review mechanism has been established, the competition review is fair and just, the event organization is standardized and orderly, and it has good coverage and influence in the region. The event is held in accordance with relevant local regulations. In principle, the application and selection will be carried out for provincial youth science and technology innovation competitions led by provincial science and technology associations.

Q: What measures have the competition taken to eliminate fraud and cultivate good academic style?

Answer: The competition firmly opposes academic misconduct such as fraud, and will take the following measures: First, do a good job in value guidance, highlight the promotion of the spirit of scientists, and cultivate a good academic style. During the various related competitions and competitions, we carried out activities to promote the spirit of scientists, and designed the competition with the theme of "Brave shouldering the mission of the times and helping high-level science and technology self-reliance and self-improvement", created a science and technology carnival for young people, cultivate the family and country feelings of young people, and establish lofty ambitions for serving the country through science and technology.

The second is to strengthen the main responsibility of organizing the competition. All related league events and competitions have established a scientific ethics and scientific and technological ethics review mechanism to ensure fairness and justice in competition review and standardized and orderly organization of activities. Participants shall not commit academic misconduct such as violating relevant competition rules, plagiarizing or infringing on the intellectual property rights of others. If adverse social impacts arise due to event organization reasons, the competition organizing committee will cancel the qualification for the relevant event and the event will not be re-applied within two years.

Third, there is zero tolerance for violations. The competition implements a one-vote veto system for violations such as fraud. During the competition, contestants must display their winning works in related competitions on site as required. Experts from the competition Science and Ethics Review Committee will review the contestants' comprehensive performance on-site, whether they comply with scientific research ethics, scientific and technological ethics norms and codes of conduct. If any violations are found such as fraud, excessive participation by others, and "transfer of flowers and wood", they will be rejected and the relevant personnel will be disqualified from participating, and the recommended places for the next competition in the relevant event will be deducted depending on the circumstances.

The fourth is to strengthen the management of abnormal behavior. Establish a list of abnormal behaviors for young people's science and technology practice activities, and record abnormal behaviors such as fraud, violations of regulations and discipline, and interference in competitions for participating students, parents of students, review experts.

(Reporter Zhan Yuan of this newspaper)