A student from Beihang University showing their work: the mini-plane

Students from 265 universities on the mainland and in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, will enter 701 inventions and studies in the contests, which organizers call "academic and scientific Olympiad for university students."

This is the first time students from Taiwan have taken part in the Challenge Cup since the national contest was launched in 1989.

"We welcome youth elites from all over the country to demonstrate their most outstanding innovations and ability in Shanghai. That is also the core for a city's future development," Mayor Han Zheng said during the contest's opening ceremony at Fudan University.

The contest includes 415 inventions in the fields of computers, mechanics and biological sciences, 226 theses on natural sciences as well as 60 studies in the social sciences.

This is the largest ever Challenge Cup with the most entries, organizers said.

Products will be on display at Fudan's newly built Guanghua Tower for three days before the jury names the grand champion and 20 runners-up tomorrow.

Fudan has won the contest for the last three years.

A product trade fair has also been set up at this year's event, to help match student inventors with manufacturers who can turn their ideas into marketable products.

"I was very excited to join such a high-level contest and see where my peers on the mainland stand," said Chang Shao-chien, a post-graduate student from the Taipei-based Taiwan Tunghai University.