It was a remarkable sight during the official opening dinner of the Holland Water Week in Shanghai as five Chinese students took the limelight in the impressive ballroom of the Oriental Riverside Hotel. Enjoying their personal moment of fame, they went from table to table toasting with the many senior government and corporate representatives attending the event from China and the Netherlands.

Just a few hours earlier, these ambitious young water engineers had been on stage to compete for the top honours in the final of the Holland Water Challenge, a competition among the top universities in China in the field of water technology. Launched in January 2010, more than 40 students from 6 universities competed in four consecutive rounds of interviews and presentations, to come-up with the most innovative and commercially attractive proposal for the application of a new water technology.