The 8th Luohu Maker Festival kicked off on Sunday in Shenzhen’s Luohu District. Marking the eighth year of Luohu’s commitment to innovation-driven education, this year’s event spans more than 80 primary and secondary schools and involves over 130,000 teachers and students.

Through competitions, exhibitions, and hands-on experiences, the festival fuels young people’s creativity and contributes to Luohu’s efforts to cultivate new quality productive forces.

This year’s edition features 32 competition categories, with artificial intelligence (AI) as the central theme—13 of the events, or more than 40%, are AI-related. The contests cover all age groups, from kindergarten coding games and robot challenges to AI model application and autonomous driving simulations.

The festival also highlights the integration of AI into real-life scenarios. In the “Torch Relay: Building the Future City” robot challenge, for instance, kindergarten teams program robots to complete urban planning tasks while learning about ecological harmony.

Meanwhile, the AI model application contest encourages students to combine AI technology with creative expressions of traditional culture, history, and intangible cultural heritage.

To ensure high-quality participation, Luohu has built a comprehensive innovation cultivation system. From September to November, the district organized pre-event coaching sessions, expert lectures, and multi-level selection rounds to guide students and identify outstanding projects.

In addition to on-site competitions and exhibitions at the main venue, 14 online contests and several sub-events were held at Cuiyuan Experimental School, Luoling Hubei School, and Qingxiu Education Group’s Jinpeng Kindergarten.

More than 20 interactive tech experience programs were also arranged, allowing students to explore the wonders of science and innovation through play and experimentation.