In mid-November, the final round of the 2024 “Problem-Solving and Talent Recruitment” special competition of the 19th “Challenge Cup” National College Students’ Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Works Competition was held in Beijing and Zhejiang. The champion was selected from the topic of the SIO “Intelligent Forecasting of Marine Ecological Environment Using Big Data from Remote Sensing”. Director Fang Yinxia attended the closing ceremony and awarded the winning team.

The “Challenge Cup” is a national extracurricular academic and practical competition for college students co-hosted by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, China Association for Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, and the All-China Students’ Federation. It is known as the “Olympic” event for scientific and technological innovation of contemporary college students. The special competition of this “Challenge Cup” featured 56 topics, and the topic of the SIO “Intelligent Forecasting of Marine Ecological Environment Using Big Data from Remote Sensing” was selected after several rounds of screening. This topic focuses on intelligent forecasting and prediction of marine ecological resources and environmental factors based on big data from satellite remote sensing. Participating teams were required to select typical forecasting parameters and application scenarios, use multi-source satellite remote sensing data to build intelligent forecasting models for marine ecological environment factors based on artificial intelligence and big data technology, and develop corresponding demonstration software.

After the topic was announced in April 2024, it attracted 71 teams from 48 universities across the country, and finally, 53 submissions from 37 universities passed the qualification review. During the competition, more than ten participating universities formed internship and practice groups to visit the SIO for research and exchanges, further deepening the impact of marine science and technology development on contemporary college students. The State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics formed a working group to answer questions for participating students, and conducted analysis, testing and validation of the remote sensing big data model software submitted by the participating teams. Through the preliminary and final rounds, five works were awarded the Grand Prize in the “Problem-Solving and Talent Recruitment” special competition of the 19th “Challenge Cup” National College Students’ Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Works Competition. Among them, “Poseidon: An Intelligent Forecasting Model for Marine Ecological Environment Factors” submitted by Zhejiang University won the title of Champion, and 18 other works were awarded First, Second and Third Prizes.