Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology released the updated Implementation Rules of Regulations on Shanghai Science and Technology Awards on Jan 26, promptly bringing it into effect.

The revised version, comprising eight chapters and 62 articles, addresses such aspects as award recipients and scope, nomination and acceptance conditions, evaluation organization and procedures, objection handling and supervision, award procedures and quantities. 

In accordance with the revised rules, the award system has been streamlined to include three levels — Special Prize, First Prize and Second Prize — for the four categories of Natural Science Award, Technological Invention Award, Scientific and Technological Progress Award and Science and Technology Popularization Award. The Third Prize and its related requirements have been eliminated.

The new rules also establish a specific upper limit on the total number of winners for the four categories. The total number has been reduced from the original cap of 300 to 200, with the Special Prize limited to two, and the First Prize not exceeding 70.

Additionally, to standardize the nomination process, further requirements have been clarified regarding the responsibilities of nominators, restrictions on nominated projects, and conditions for project contributors be nominated.

The revised rules strengthen the orientation of rewards, optimize the award levels, reduce the number of winners, and improve the relevant responsibilities of nominators and the conditions for candidates, providing a good institutional guarantee for the sci-tech awards in the city.

The previous Implementation Rules of Regulations on Shanghai Science and Technology Awards are based on the Regulations on Shanghai Science and Technology Awards, which were issued in 2019. To meet the new requirements of national reward reform in 2023, Shanghai collected opinions from local sci-tech experts, research institutions and relevant departments at an early stage, and studied and drafted the detailed rules. After publicly soliciting feedback from Jan 9 to 15, the draft was refined to form the revised version.

The Shanghai Science and Technology Awards are conferred upon candidates who have made outstanding and creative contributions in such areas as scientific discoveries, technological inventions, promoting scientific and technological progress, and sci-tech popularization. Recipients of the awards for the same project are ranked based on the magnitude of their contributions.