Abstract: Young talents are the key driving force to promote the development of science and technology, and scientific and technological project funding is the main way to support their innovative research. Taking the winners of the Pearl River Science and Technology Rising Star Project in Guangzhou as the research object, this paper analyzes the development and changes of young talents’ personal and scientific research achievements after receiving funding, uses the difference-in-differences with multiple time periods method to explore the causal relationship between the Pearl River Science and Technology Rising Star project and the output of scientific research achievements of young talents, and comprehensively examines the cultivation effect of regional science and technology talent projects on young talents and puts forward suggestions for improvement of the projects in combination with the successful practices of the world’s major innovative countries in the setting and implementation of science and technology projects. The results show that the regional science and technology talent project has achieved remarkable results in cultivating provincial talents, but its role in cultivating national high-level talents still needs to be strengthened. Regional science and technology talent projects do not increase the number of high-level achievements of young talents, and have a significant negative impact on the influence of their scientific research achievements. Too short project duration leads to the negative impact of regional science and technology talent projects on the output of scientific research achievements of young talents in basic disciplines such as science. In order to further strengthen the cultivation role of science and technology projects and ensure the output quality of achievements, regional science and technology talent projects should build a diversified and multi-level funding system, continue to fund potential projects, and set up special funds for high-risk projects that may bring scientific research innovation and technological breakthroughs. In the project evaluation, the research potential and original innovation of the declared project should be investigated, and a reasonable output target of scientific research results and project implementation time should be set.

Key words: Funding for Science and Technology Projects; Cultivation of Young Talents; Pearl River Science and Technology Rising Star Project; Difference-in-differences with Multiple Time Periods