More than 800 high-technology projects were on display at the first China (Shanghai) International Technology Fair in Shanghai last week. Fair participants also attended more than 70 forums and events promoting trading of technology, protection of intellectual property and innovation-driven development. The value of China’s technology trade totaled CNY64.37 billion in 2012, tripling from that of 2006. A virtual system to test new drivers in Shanghai and the latest 3D printers were some of the highlights at the fair. Chen Deming, President of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and China’s former Minister of Commerce, said China should take advantage of the trade in technology to offset unfavorable economic conditions such as rising costs, a deteriorating environment and manufacturing overcapacity. “There is vast room for cooperation in trade of technology with foreign countries, and we hope in the foreseeable future, China will become an important supplier of technology transfer in the world,” he said at the fair. The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said China’s trade of technology totaled USD73.6 billion last year, which was 20 times the value in 1978.

Only 29% of the 178,000 students who are to graduate in Shanghai this June have signed job contracts, been admitted to postgraduate studies or decided to study abroad as of last month, according to the Shanghai Student Affairs Center. The percentage was up 4% from March but down 3% year-on-year, even though the number of graduates is about the same as last year. The center attributed the poor employment prospects for graduates mainly to the recovering economy, adding that the number of available positions declined from the past two years. In February, students were still expecting a starting salary of at least CNY4,000, up CNY225 from the average salary of 2012 graduates, according to the China International Intellectech (Shanghai) Corp. Only 20% of seniors at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology have signed up for a job or have been admitted to postgraduate studies, said Niu Xiangyu, Director of the student employment guidance center at the school. Niu said the demand for mechanical and manufacturing graduates was down 40% from last year. Teachers from student employment centers at other universities and colleges said the accumulation of jobless graduates from previous years and the increasing number of overseas students who return to China for jobs have made it more difficult for this year’s graduates to land a job. Most students refuse to lower their expectations. Nationwide, nearly 7 million university students are about to graduate this summer, the largest number since 1949, the Shanghai Daily reports.

A “super X-ray” machine capable of exposing the structure of chemical compounds and proteins, and used to analyze the H1N1 swine flu in 2010, won the special prize at Shanghai’s annual Science and Technology Awards. The Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) uses state-of-the-art “synchrotrons radiation” technology to create super beams. Its brightness is hundreds of millions of times greater than a normal X-ray and will be used to study the structure of the H7N9 bird flu virus. Experts have previously used the machine to analyze the H1N1 swine flu in 2010 and discovered that H1N1’s HA gene was similar to the 1918 flu virus, which explained why the young were more vulnerable to the virus instead of the elderly during the epidemic in 2009. Since it first became available in May 2009, the SSRF has been used in 3,614 projects in the fields of information technology, protein research, nanotechnology, life sciences, environmental sciences, and new materials research. A total of 282 people and projects won this year’s awards. Russian molecular biologist Philipp Khaitovich, American tumor radiotherapist Jay Lu and American scientist Ni Jun, were also among those honored for their contributions to international science and technology cooperation. A program promoting health care, led by Dr Yang Binghui, and a science documentary made by the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum won the first prize for scientific development, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Stephen A. Schwarzman, founder of private equity firm Blackstone, announced the establishment of a USD300 million endowed scholarship program in China for students from around the world, and billed it as a rival to the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. He is contributing USD100 million as a personal gift and plans to raise another USD200 million to endow the Schwarzman Scholars program at Beijing’s Tsinghua University. It will be the largest philanthropic gift with foreign money in China’s history. Schwarzman said China’s rapid economic growth and rising global influence would define the 21st century as U.S. ties to Europe did to the 20th century – when the Rhodes Scholarship was created at Oxford University with the goal of producing outstanding leaders. “China is no longer an elective course, it’s core curriculum,” he said in Beijing. By partnering with the prestigious Chinese university, Schwarzman said he hoped the educational program would train future world leaders and play a positive role in relations between China and the U.S. Tsinghua University has produced many of China’s senior leaders, who have traditionally been technocrats. It is the alma mater of both President Xi Jinping and former President Hu Jintao. The USD300 million endowment will allow 200 students to take part in a one-year master’s program at Tsinghua in public policy, economics and business, international relations or engineering each year from 2016. Schwarzman said 45% of the students would come from the U.S., 20% from China and the rest from other parts of the world. Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama sent congratulatory letters, which were read out at the announcement ceremony in the Great Hall of the People. The program’s Advisory Board includes Nicolas Sarkozy, Tony Blair, Brian Mulroney, Kevin Rudd, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. The Schwarzman College is to be built on the Tsinghua campus. Many international corporations have signed on as donors to the program, including BP, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase, Bloomberg Philanthropic, Caterpillar, Credit Suisse and Deloitte, the Shanghai Daily reports.

The China National Deep Sea Center is expected to start operating next year. Building will start in May. The center will cover about 26 hectares of land and 62.7 hectares of sea in Jimo county, off the east coast of Shandong province, serving as a support station for deep-sea facilities, including Jiaolong, China’s manned submersible. The center will feature five berths to accommodate two vessels weighing 6,000 metric tons and three of 3,000 tons. The center will cost an estimated CNY495 million. The deep-sea base program is the fifth of its kind in the world, following those in the U.S., Russia, France and Japan. Exploring the deep sea is part of the strategy to build China into a maritime power. Scientists believe the sea at depths of 4,000 to 6,000 meters holds abundant deposits of rare metals and methane hydrate, a form of natural gas bound in ice that could serve as a new energy source. China sent the Jiaolong to a depth of below 7,000 meters in June 2012. A plan for the center’s deep-sea equipment development for the next five to 10 years will be drawn up this year.