The city plans to pioneer a new system to make science more popular among the public, said Ye Shuhua, chairwoman of the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology (SAST) at yesterday's association representative assembly, which is held every five years, according to today's China Daily.
 
"Great efforts will be made to attract more funds from enterprises and individuals at home and abroad," she said.

The association will also encourage multi-nationals and joint ventures to build scientific education facilities and participate in the promotion of public scientific literacy by donating relevant education instruments.

It aims to increase the contribution from government sources, thus establishing a multi-channel investment mechanism to popularize science.

In light of China's impending accession to the World Trade Organization, SAST will also actively seek co-operation with domestic and foreign media and establish a professional and commercial scientific education network.

In the past five years, Shanghai has established 115 popular science communities and 115 scientific education bases, and has witnessed 8.6 million participants in more than 40,000 popular science activities.

In addition, the SAST also spreads scientific knowledge through new media, such as the Internet. Two websites dedicated to popular science have been launched.