From Mantua to Xi'an: MCL Represents Italy at the 40th CASTIC

Manto Circular Lab APS represented Italy at CASTIC — the China Adolescents Science & Technology Innovation Contest, one of the largest and most prestigious youth science competitions in the world. Our delegation was led by Mauro Grandi, the association's treasurer, and Anna Carraro, board member.

Organised by the China Association for Science and Technology together with the Chinese Ministry of Education, CASTIC selects around 500 projects each year out of millions of Chinese students, and welcomes close to 100 international participants from more than 20 countries across thirteen scientific categories. Italy is not always on that map: being there, as an association founded in Mantua in 2019, means bringing our students' work into a truly global conversation.

The contest was hosted on the campus of Xi'an Jiaotong University, one of China's historic academic institutions and today among its most active in applied research. The days were intense: scientific tests, judging sessions, meetings with other delegations, and direct exchange between students who speak different languages but share one common one — the scientific method. The main competition did not involve presenting projects at exhibition stands: projects were assessed on the basis of the submitted report, whose score was combined with the results of individual or team scientific tests.

Alongside the competition, the programme included a cultural itinerary across three regions. In Chengdu, Sichuan, the delegation visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, one of the world's leading conservation centres, along with the Wu Hou Shrine, Jinli Old Street, the Anshun Bridge, Haichang Polar Ocean World, the Vitality Towers and the New Century Global Centre, the largest building by floor area on the planet. The itinerary also took in the Leshan Giant Buddha, the tallest stone Buddha in the world, and an ancient town set in the Sichuan countryside.

The journey then moved on to Xi'an, with the Terracotta Army and the Muslim Quarter, and closed in Beijing with the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven.

For MCL, this trip is not an exception but one more step in a path that since 2019 has involved over 850 students in research, innovation and circular economy projects, and taken their ideas to international fairs and events. Because what we always say holds true in China too: where opportunity meets talent.