From July 17th to July 27th, the 2018 Santander-ShanghaiTech Innovation Workshop was successfully held at School of Entrepreneurship and Management. The theme of workshop was “InnoLab: Innovation for Urban Living.” SEM Vice Dean Professor Lu Ding pointed out in his opening remarks that the workshop is of great importance as the Chinese economy transitions from quantitative expansion to quality growth, people are in pursuit of higher standards of urban living.
With the goal of improving urban living, 26 participants from 11 universities in 5 different countries gathered at ShanghaiTech University for the Innovation Workshop. The workshop consisted of interactive lectures and learning activities on innovation management and design thinking; company visits featuring Chinese entrepreneurship and innovation, an entrepreneurship tournament promoting innovations to improve urban living. During the 10-day workshop, participants also took part in a cultural-exchange tour in Shanghai, company visits to Dow Chemical and XNode Zhangjiang Space, teamwork at the Design Thinking workshop, and a three-day module on innovation management taught by Professor Christian Terwiesch from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.
On July 27th, products designed by five groups of students were presented at the final competition session. The panel of judges included Mr. Jose Maneul Mateu De Ros Domenech (Managing Director of Santander Asia), Mr. Fu Jian (Entrepreneur, Founder of Zhuoyi Tech), Mr. Zhang Songhao (emeritus Senior Manager of Shanghai Municipal Investment Group Corporation), and Professor Lu Ding. ShanghaiTech Provost and Vice President Yin Jie and Dean of SEM Professor Fang Hanming attended the presentation session. Finally, the mobile app Comates, designed by Fang Xue (ShanghaiTech University), Xiao Zihan (Fudan University), Xian Shiyin (Shanghai International Studies School), Xu Lin (University of Nottingham Ningbo China) and Sofia Elena Isoldi Daris (Universidade de São Paulo) won the Winner Team Award. This app matches people with similar public transport commute routes, aiming to address safety of white collar workers on their daily commute. With Comates, they can meet up, share safe commute, and socialize with each other.
In his closing remarks, Mr. Mateu expressed his amazement at the students’ innovative ideas. He reminded the audience that Santander Bank has been committed to supporting higher education through Santander Universities Program and encouraging students’ innovative practices. He expressed his hope that the students could make good use of their educational resources and innovative opportunities. Provost and Vice President Yin Jie pointed out that ShanghaiTech and SEM has made great efforts on developing students’ innovation and entrepreneurship competence and skills. He congratulated SEM on successfully holding the workshop and thanked Santander Bank for its support. He commended the students’ achievements in acquiring knowledge, improving skills, learning about different cultures, and making new friends through the workshop.