The International Student Innovation Competition 2018, held at Shanghai from 6 to 15 July 2018, gathered students from Dual Degree Program in Technology & Management (T&M-DDP), University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HESSO) and ShanghaiTech University (SHTECH). Students teamed up with peers from different universities were challenged to create a new product/service to solve a health problem in China.

55 students were assigned by faculty into 9 teams for an immersive multi-cultural and multi-disciplined experience.  Prof. Betty LIN, Associate Director of T&M-DDP led the group through a McKinsey teambuilding workshop and a 7-day startup business plan development framework. Our local host arranged for students to visit China leading healthcare companies as well as Swiss-Innovation Center in Shanghai covering medical imaging, cancer detection, food safety and stem-cell research companies. During teamwork hours, students interviewed Shanghai residents for market insight and user feedback on their product ideas.

Final presentation was held on Day 9 of the program for students to pitch their ideas to judges. The winning team formed by Zhi Yun YAP (HKUST), Tanay ROHATGI (HKUST),  Begoña LOPEZ (HESSO), Andrea CONGUA(HESSO), Ahmed ABID(HESSO), and YANG Xiangyu (SHTECH). Their startup was a mobile health-check clinic on a bus that helps people in need and living in hard-to-reach areas of China. Medical staff conduct basic health check while complicated data analysis can be performed remotely by specialists aided by artificial intelligence.

This was a first time for T&M-DDP students to work with Master degree students from Switzerland with degrees in Design, Engineering and Business whose mother-tongue included French, Portuguese and German.