The finals of the 5th China “Internet Plus” University Graduates Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award has taken place in Zhejiang University, China, with more than 8,000 participants from over 800 colleges and universities taking part in the competition, with articipating Nigerian teams making a mark.
The Award which held from October 12th to 15th had four sections, including Higher Education Track, Vocational Education Track, International Track and Germination Track (open for high school students). According to the organisers the competition had five major goals which are, “More Comprehensive, More International, More China, More Educational, More Innovation”.
A statement from the organisers of the competition, China’s ministry of education, noted that since June 2019, the Award has attracted 4.57 million graduates and 1.09 million teams from 124 countries and regions in five continents to engage in the competition. “The number of projects and participants is close to the sum of the previous four competitions, and international influence has also improved. It has become the most influential innovative and entrepreneurial event for all colleges and universities across China”. The statement said.
Majority of projects at the competition aim at artificial technology, chips, 5G, new materials and other technological frontiers, some of which have taken the leading position in the industry.
During the finals, there were 61 gold awards in Higher Education Track and 20 innovation potential awards in Germination Track. Others had 15 gold awards.
In the championship competition, four teams took roadshow in sequence. After the teams’ mutual evaluation and expert comments, 150 judges voted for the roadshow team and the results were announced on the spot. In the end, Tsinghua University won the championship, and “iHe@r” project and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember and Zhejiang University of Technology got the third place.
Initiated in 2015, China “Internet +” University Graduates Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award has become an important contributor to deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China. The competition has set up an International Track since 2018, attracting more than 670 teams from over 50 countries. The goal is to strengthen global innovation and entrepreneurship education, cooperation and mutual exchanges among youths.
This year, participants were from about 120 countries and regions, and the number of engaged teams was about 1500. World-renowned universities like Harvard University, Cambridge University, Nanyang Technological University were on the list of participants.
Wu Yan, Director of the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, noted that: “The comptition has involved hundreds of countries, thousands of colleges, universities and participants. It has already formed a global platform for innovation and entrepreneurship education exchanges.” In addition, this year’s Award reached a total of 406 investment intentions, with the amount exceeding 1.7 billion RMB.
This year, three Nigerian teams stood out and presented their projects at Zhejiang University. Their presentations focused on different fields.
Talking about their journey to the competition, the Nigerian team noted that, “We got information on this competition through some colleagues. They advised us to participate in it. We have introduced the project to the judges and have answered their questions. We are confident that this project is going to sell, and I hope after the competition it can help other students including foreign students come to China.”
They also noted that before participating in the competition, they had met strong obstacles, which included, funding, technical problems, staff problem and others. They said that it has not been easy for them to make it to the finals, but they never gave up.
“We have a passion to help the world, and when meeting friends who have the same wish, we can click-in almost immediately,” the team leader Akan Donald said excitedly.
They stated that with more support from judges, their project is going to be reconised in China. They said that China is a good place for both the project and the team.
Another Nigerian team from Osun State University presented a project on the development of road recycling agent using waste cooking oil and how to maintaining damages with wastes and turning waste to wealth. Their presentation got a score of 86.8!
“Plasma Smart” one of the Nigerian teams is a social enterprise in Nigeria. The event marks the first time team members are visiting China. they expressed amazement at the event, they also expressed satisfaction that the event has been fulfilling because it afforded them the opportunity to meet with other entrepreneurs and participants to share thoughts together. They said if they had opportunities in the future, they would like to start a business in China.
