InnoCentive today announced the sponsorship of a virtual scientific competition for graduate students in China studying biology and chemistry.

Jointly sponsored with the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (NSFC), the competition provides graduate students from leading universities in China with the opportunity to solve intellectual scientific challenges and win a USD $500 scholarship for the winning solutions. InnoCentive Vice President of Marketing Ali Hussein debuted the Web site for the virtual scientific competition at a press conference.

Scientists from InnoCentive and the NSFC and professors at Peking University, Fudan University and other institutions will develop scientific questions in biology and chemistry. Students can register at InnoCentive's online forum (www.innocentive.com) and will be able to view the problems and submit solutions. The first two students who solve the problems correctly will be granted the scholarships. The first scientific competition will be held on March 1-12, 2004.

InnoCentive is the first online forum that brings together leading global corporations and scientists from across the globe to solve tough research and development (R&D) challenges. Global companies including BASF, Dow Chemical, Eli Lilly and Company, and Procter & Gamble, which collectively spend billions of dollars on R&D, post their tough scientific problems confidentially on the InnoCentive Web site where leading scientists and scientific organizations located in more than 150 countries can solve them. Scientists who deliver solutions that best meet InnoCentive's Challenge requirements receive a financial award for their work, ranging up to USD $100,000.