The 2023 Shanghai Science Festival officially opens on May 20, with the theme of “Enjoy Science and Create Future”, in the Grand Halls located at theNorth Bund.

Mr. Chen Jining, secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, and Mr. Gong Zheng, deputy secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and mayor of Shanghai, attended the opening ceremony of 2023 Shanghai Science Festival together with scientists and youth representatives. Mr. Chen Kaixian, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM CAS), and Guo Jiaye and Jiang Yuchen, Shanghai “Science and Technology Stars of Tomorrow,” jointly launched the event.

Other leaders of the Shanghai Municipal Government also attended the launching ceremony.

Scientists from various fields, and representatives of innovative enterprises and of foreign experts based in Shanghai graced the red carpet. In the publicity film, academicians including Zhu Hehua, Fan Chunhai, and Han Bin, Nobel laureate Kurt Wüthrich, and other Chinese and foreign scientists and heads of innovative enterprises, expressed their expectations for Shanghai as a center of science and technology (S&T) innovation. The Network for the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) announced in a video that Shanghai would host the 2027 biennial PSCT Conference. In the theme film entitled Enjoy the Carnival of Science and Technology, “Qisi”, the digital mascot whose name meant “provoking thoughts”, introduced with news anchors the highlight activities during the festival, presenting the rich connotations of “S&T popularization plus”. The theme song for the festival, which was composed through technologies such as AI, was also released.

The 2023 Shanghai Science Festival held from May 20 to 31 consists of six modules – the opening ceremony, conferences, open activities, contests, media S&T popularization, and closing ceremony, during which more than 1,500 thematic activities will be held. Integrating online and offline means, the festival empowers the high-quality development of S&T popularization in the new era with the “S&T popularization plus” concept, and strives to function as a platform to release S&T innovations, showcase S&T products, celebrate S&T workers, and popularize S&T among the public.