Maurizio Tonetti

Thirty-four "science stars" graced the red carpet on Saturday morning along the Huangpu River at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Shanghai Science Festival.

From venerable scientists, overseas experts to teen inventors, this year's red carpet turnout was twice that of last year.

Big names include Chen Kaixian, Han Bin, Fan Chunhai and Zhu Hehua, who are either academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences or Chinese Academy of Engineering, China's top national academies.

Cosimo Bambi

There are also four foreign scientists: Vadim Grinenko, associate professor at the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute; Hong Gi-hoon, professor at the East China Normal University's State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research; Cosimo Bambi, a physics professor at the Fudan University; and Maurizio Tonetti, director of the Perio-Implant Innovation Center of Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital.

Of them, last year Bambi received the accolade of the city's Magnolia Gold Award and Tonetti the Silver Award.

Grinenko walked the red carpet with the institute's deputy director Yang Xiaohu and his colleague Xu Donglian.

(From left) Xu Donglian, Yang Xiaohu and Vadim Grinenko

According to Yang, the institute was designed to build an international talent pool, and currently 40 percent of its researchers are from abroad. They will help the institute become the world's leading institute in five to 10 years, he said.

At the opening ceremony, the theme song for the festival was released. It was composed through AICG, or artificial intelligence generative contents, based on the keyword "seed" that was selected from many candidates provided by the citizens.

This year's festival will run through May 31, with more than 1,500 events on offer across the city. During the period, 131 science venues will open for free or offer special rates on tickets.

Hong Gi-hoon