The 2018 China Qidong Festival for Technology Professionals, which also served as an international trade conference, opened at Hengda International Conference Center, in Qidong city, on Dec 15.

Many top scholars and representatives from domestic firms listed in the Fortune Global 500 index attended the event. 

The festival has been held by Qidong city for 16 consecutive years. On this occasion, the trade conference saw investors put money into more carefully targeted investment projects that have been tailored for Qidong’s industrial development. 

Around 25 scholars from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as from some of China’s top talent programs were invited to the event. 

The festival also attracted attention from some of China’s most renowned media organizations, including the People’s Daily Online, Liberation Daily and Xinhua Daily. 

The opening ceremony of the festival was held on Dec 16, at which a list of technology professionals and entrepreneurs who had made a valuable contribution to Qidong’s development were honored. 

During the two-day event, a series of activities are set to be held, including a parallel forum on integrating the development of Qidong and the rest of the Yangtze River Delta Region, a workshop on cooperation between universities and industries, a round table meeting on measures to attract skilled workers, a workshop on developing the shipbuilding industry in Qidong, and a promotional conference for the city’s Lyusi Port.