Richard Alan Boucher, former deputy secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, pointed out that bolstering connectivity in rural areas would also attract more people to live and work in such places and enjoy benefits such as lower land cost and better air quality. The key to achieving this lies in providing urban features such as fast connectivity, education opportunities, convenient transportation and efficient services in rural areas, he added.

A proposal by Alina Abdisheva and Adilbek Sultanov from Kazakhstan revolved around the "endowment effect", a theory in behavioral economics, which hypothesizes that people are likely to pay more to retain something they own than to get something they do not.

The Kazak students' proposal includes promoting a green and healthy lifestyle and water purification in rural areas, noting that the government should provide free water facilities in the early stages of development.

"According to the 'endowment effect', residents will learn of the benefits of these water facilities after getting to use them for free in the first month or so. This would thus increase their willingness to pay for it," said Abdisheva, who just graduated from Nazarbayev University.

"Even if subsidies are reduced, it is possible that people would still be willing to pay for such facilities," Sultanov added.

In another proposal, students from the Maldives recommended that farmers in their country use biodegradable fertilizers to solve the problem of a lack of nutrients in the soil, a major challenge faced by rural residents in that country.

To create this biodegradable fertilizer, students mixed crushed banana peels, eggshells, matches and a vegetable broth that contains potassium, calcium, phosphorus, nitrogen and magnesium－essential nutrients needed by plants.

"This is what we learned from gardeners and farmers during our research. It is an easy and green solution to the problem," said Fathmath Shihama from Maldives National University, who has decided to return to her home in the rural areas after graduation to help with its development.

After the competition, two teams were rewarded for the "most innovative" proposals on Friday. One proposal was about taking advantage of nopal, the cactus, to solve the soil problems in dry regions, while another was about connectivity in rural China.

"Young people's ideas may seem unconventional to some, but I appreciate them, as their thinking represents our future needs. Thinking ahead is important," said Xi Jianchao, a professor at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.