The city's annual science festival will be held from May 15 to 26 with more than 1,000 events on offer, allowing people to meet renowned scientists and explore the fruits of local innovation, the city government announced on Thursday.

The opening ceremony will be at the Shanghai Exhibition Center on May 15, said Ji Xiaoye, an official with the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission.

One of the eminent scientists attending the festival will be Dutch chemist and Nobel laureate Bernard Lucas Feringa, who has been granted permanent residence in Shanghai.

Other participants will include Wang Xiaoming, director of Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, and Liu Zhongmin, director of Shanghai East Hospital — both of whom were honored with last year's National Science and Technology Award for their efforts in spreading scientific knowledge to the public.

Winners of this year's Shanghai Science and Technology Awards, which will be revealed on May 15, researchers from the Fortune 500 companies and the city's budding scientists will walk the red carpet at the opening ceremony.

"We hope scientists can be today's idols," Ji said.

People who want to meet the scientists on the red carpet can sign up at https://vip.coldro.net/app/index.php?i=29&c=entry&pid=29&do=index&m=jueqi_survey.

An international mini-film competition will be held, with the winners unveiled at this year's Shanghai International Film Festival.

More than 300 science education venues at local universities and scientific research institutes, and more than 100 key labs and innovation centers, including those at Fortune 500 companies, will be open to the public free or at discounted prices.

Festival visitors will be able to climb to the 70-meter-high Tianma Telescope, Asia's No. 1 radio telescope, design new drugs at the city's new drug invention center and explore the mystery of cells at local hospitals and research institutes. A calendar is available at the commission's WeChat account (sh_stcsm).

Forums and international salons will be held where scientists will discuss hot topics, such as lunar probes, and reveal cutting-edge technologies.

The science festival is part of a series of scientific events this month, including the city's top scientific awards and the Pujiang Innovation Forum, to mark Shanghai's "innovation month" and celebrate the city's five-year development to be a world-class innovation center.

In May 2014, President Xi Jinping urged Shanghai to build a globally influential scientific and technological innovation center.

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