Congratulations to each of our ten finalist teams for competing in our first consortium-wide Innovation and Entrepreneurship competition. Representing Tampere University, Incheon National University, Guangzhou Medical University and Guangzhou University, these projects were impressive.

The theme for this year’s competition was Promoting Sustainable Urban Development with Scientific and Technological Innovation. Projects proposed included developing a mobile app which connects locals with immigrants considering the values and needs that are important for both of the target groups; high oleic acid soybean varieties, a Nordic Superbloc system which creates a reproductible planning unit for sustainable cities, a new type of quick setting material activated by waste materials; a program which popularizes the knowledge of atrial fibrillation and improve the ability of diagnosis and management of the medical team; a cross-platform of E-commerce private domain traffic aggregator; a treatment system of data from patients and monitoring software for professionals; an education information system which includes intelligent tutoring, smart marketing and smart management systems; a program which makes waste a resource through proper separation and discharge from public areas; and a gathering program for small and micro art training institutions

Final projects were scored in the areas of innovation, team, commerciality and social benefits and winners were awarded 260,000 RMB in prize money to invest into their projects.  Special congratulations to our Gold Award winner Medified, our two Silver Award winners Asquared and ESC, and our three Bronze Award winners Yachen Culture, Guangzhou Five or Six Points and Douhuiwanjia. Congratulations again to these six teams which also received the outstanding mentor awards and AsOne for winning the outstanding presentation award.

This competition would not have been possible without the help of our great judging panel. These members which included Professor Gio Fornell from Linkoping University, Professor Alexandra Aragao from the University of Coimbra, Professor Choi Juneyoung from Incheon National University, Professor Fabrizio Dughiero from the University of Padova, Dr. Taru Pilvi from Tampere University, Professor Lei Zhao from Guangzhou Medical University, Professor Wang Mansi from Guangzhou University, Dr. Ricky Shi-wei Lee from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Professor Vivian Tam from Western Sydney University.

This year’s competition represents the first of many Alliance-wide competitions planned in the future. This year’s finalists established an impressive beginning and a high bar of standard.  We wish each of them the greatest of success in the coming years. We look forward to the further development of their projects and learning of their positive impact in the sustainable urban development of our cities.