Buildingan interactive global platform for ‘Technological innovation+ cultural innovation’and a co-creative global bi-community
111 Sino-foreign partners (city, enterprise, university, and organization) put together the theme container pavilions, and “Technology+Culture” displays the latest achievements in global innovation, entrepreneurship, and creative fields. Domestic and international students will participate to build a global innovation-entrepreneurship-consortium, “Online+offline” to promote innovation programs in developing countries along “the Belt and Road”（the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road）initiative. In the framework of “Pujiang Innovation Forum”, and supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Shanghai Municipal Government, the 2018 “WIEE” is sponsored by Tongji University and undertaken by College of Design and Innovation will launch on May 19th2018, and last till May 2019. This is also a tribute to the 111th anniversary for the founding of Tongji University. On May 3rd，Tongji University held a press conference on WIEE and released relevant information to the media.
Wu Zhiqiang, an academic of the Chinese Academy ofEngineering, vice president of Tongji University and the general director of the WIEE, stated at the press conference that university is the origin of new technology talents and the core of innovation and entrepreneurship. As an important measure to promote the "dualfirst-class" construction, Tongji Universitycoordinateda number ofwell-knownuniversities, innovative cities, enterprises and organizations to host the First WIEE, which aims to gather global resources, to display world-class achievement, interactive platform and exhibition brands, to build a co-creative global innovation and entrepreneurship community, to promote the training of dual-creative talentswith theexchange of innovative technologies and talents, and to accelerate the development of scientific and technological innovation and new industry.It will be anewduplicableandpromotablemode of innovation and entrepreneurship, not only to serve the construction of global influential science and innovation center in Shanghai,but alsoprovide Chinese wisdom and future pln.
The venuesinclude Jiading and Yangpu campuses. The theme of the First WIEE is "Innovation andEntrepreneurshipMakeDreamsComeTrue", and the program will include: “WIEE Opening Week”, “Innovation & Entrepreneurship Summer Vacation Carnival”, “Global Future Theme Weeks” and “Innovation & Entrepreneurship Theme Exhibition.”Allrelevantdetailedagendawere generally settled.
WIEE attracts a significant number of domestic and foreign cities, universities, enterprises and organizations. WIEE has selected cities with different developing background globally, and they are Miami (USA),Espoo(Finland), St Paul (Brazil), Shenzhen, Suzhou, Haining, Tongxiang,etc., aiming to build innovative companies. In the development stage, there are diverse markets with different cultural backgrounds, policy environments, and consumer strata. Up to date, Chinese and foreign institutions, companies, organizations that have confirmed to come to the exhibition, including the MIT Media Lab, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering, the Polytechnic University of Milan of Italy, the Aalto University of Finland, Syracuse University of the U.S.A., Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunan University, Donghua University, East China University of Technology, Jiangnan University etc.; Alibaba Cloud, Greenland Group，BMW, Vanke, Angel, Uniqlo, Shenzhen Worldunion, Shenzhen Kuang-Chi Group，etc.，as well as the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the UNESCO Creative Cities Network（UCCN）, the World Design Organization (WDO), the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art Design and Media (CUMULUS), the Maker Faire, Slush, etc..
In WIEE, we focus on sustainability and green strategies. The theme pavilions of cities, enterprises, universitiesand organizations consistof “StandardContainerPavilion+Self-built Pavilion.” The standard container pavilion is based on40-feet container module.Modularity is used to stack and form a zero-carbon assembly building.
From May 19thto 26th2018, the exhibitors will jointly publish the “World Declaration on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Shanghai Declaration)” and announce the preparation for the World Innovation and Entrepreneurship Organization (WIEO), and all theme pavilions will open to public. Future Trend Summit, Chinese and Foreign Mayors Forum, Tongji-MIT Beyond Intelligent City Forum, 111thAnniversary of Tongji University “Alumni Innovation and Business Conference”, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Summit, City and Art Forum, and NICE2035 Future Living Forums will be held in succession. Leaders, and Tongji’s alumni will share the latest innovative practices and reflections. During this period, the NICE2035 “Innovation and Entrepreneurial Creativity” Community 2.0 jointly created by Tongji University and Siping Community in Yangpu District will be released. The opening ceremony forum is organized by Tongji University College of Design and Innovation in collaboration with Zaojiu.
Different from the "exhibition-visiting" mode of pre-set content in general fairs, Tongji University, under the guidance of the five development concepts of "innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing", strives to make this establishment a collaborative effort among various participants. During the “Summer Event”, a series of events and theme activities have already been scheduled and in full swing, including the China-US Youth Maker Contest, the "United University" across the Taiwan Strait, and FABO Science and Technology Summer Camp, Straits Youth Makers Competition, International STEAM Education Forum, etc. In addition, Maker Faire will land in Shanghai the first time; Slush will host the largest Slush venture conference in China. By then, these activities will attract a large number of Chinese, foreign, middle school and primary school students to participate.
The "Innovation and Entrepreneurship Theme Exhibition" runs through the Expo and is divided into two major categories: "Technology" and "Cultural Innovation". The " Technology " exhibition area covers "Future Cities”, “Future Transportation”, “Future Manufacturing”, “Future Environment”, “Future Health” and “Future Living.” The “Cultural” exhibition areas display “Art & Creativity”, “Brand Strategy”, “Stage Performance”, “Extreme Sports”, “Recreational Interaction”, and “Casual Dining”. There will also be a "Creative Bazaar" on the weekend. The six themes of the “Technology” category cover the most dynamic vertical industries. The essence behind the industry is not only the trillion-dollar in value, but also the need for a better living.
From October to December 2018, the Expo will suspend activities for amendment.
By January 2019, the "Global Future Theme Weeks" will be launched on a grand scale. It will use the "future city and AI “as its general theme and set up "Future construction Week", "Future Habitation Week" and "Future Transportation Week", “Future Manufacturing Week”, “Future Economic Week”, “Future Health Week” and “Future Cultural Week”. As top-ranked disciplines, civil engineering, architecture, planning, design, environment, oceanography, and transportation at Tongji University will be responsible for the activities, including forums, exhibitions, street shows, and workshops. All these activities will continue until the end of May 2019.
It is worth mentioning that the WIEE will give full play to promote the interaction between innovation & entrepreneurship, and universities & city. In the opening week of May, the WIEE will focus on presenting the ideas and thoughts from elites in various fields. At the same time, WIEE partners will announce their actual needs for future innovation and entrepreneurship. In the “Summer Event”, students will present their solutions around these innovation needs and global challenges in collaborative workshop camps. In September, a roadshow will be released at Slush and other events to connect with capital and directly achieve the transformation from innovation. “The Global Future Theme Weeks” will further realize the closed loop of the system: innovation, entrepreneurship and academia.
Wu Zhiqiang stated that it is a bold and pioneering vision to realize Tongji“Future Campus” through WIEE, a seamless collaboration among enterprises, universities, cities, and organizations. Tongji University will organize a combination of innovation and entrepreneurship education for students and promote cross-discipline, cross-level and cross-culture academic environment.
"Online + offline" is also another feature of WIEE. It will set up a multi-dimensional visualized spatial information model covering the world, build innovative project cases of mapping; and work together with universities and cities to create a future global city information sharing system. Offline, through the container exhibition to demonstrate the practical solutions for innovative venture projects, interact with the community; get feedback from policies, capital, and users, thereby accelerating product iterations and realization. Successful solutions will be shared by developing countries along “The Belt and Road” as a global collaborative innovation platform, WIEE will match the market demand for innovative technologies and talents. Eventually, the model of future AI city will be launched into global cities through online and offline interactions.
At the press briefing held by Tongji University on May 3rd, Chen Hongkai, Director of Innovation Service Division of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, said that the 2018 WIEE to be opened on May 19th will also be a prelude and highlight to 2018 Pujiang Innovation Forum (October 30th to 31st). The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government sponsor the “Pujiang Innovation Forum” jointly, and the theme of 2018 will be “Structure Reform in Innovation and Development in the New Era”.
Shen Huayu, Member of the District Standing Committee of Jiading District of Shanghai, and deputy head of the district, said that the Jiading district committee and district government fully supported Tongji University to host the World Innovation and Entrepreneurship Expo (WIEE) and will endeavor to provide related service support. Special thank to the collective effort and support from faculties and students at Tongji University College of Design and Innovation.
