The 5th edition of the China Hardware Innovation Camp (CHIC) got started in October of 2018 with four new innovative projects, including two in the medical field. The various teams – made up of students from HEC Lausanne (University of Lausanne), EPFL and ECAL – are currently working on perfecting the outlines of their respective projects with the aim of producing the prototype of their connected devices next summer in China.
What is CHIC?
The China Hardware Innovation Camp (CHIC) is a programme supported by various institutions including the Canton of Vaud, the College of Humanities at EPFL and HEC Lausanne (UNIL). Launched by Marc Laperrouza, lecturer at HEC Lausanne and Scientific Collaborator at EPFL, the program aims to go from a blank sheet of paper to a functional prototype in 30 working days. The teams, made up of members with complementary skills (engineers, designers, economists or computer scientists), work together on developing the prototypes. The program includes a trip to China (Shenzhen and Hong Kong), which allows them to produce their connected objects in small quantities.
Last year, the connected devices included a connected plush toy for children (Toygether), a solution to help employees stay focused while working in an open-plan office (Flowlin) and a device that clips onto a child’s clothing so that supervisors can keep track of children in public spaces (Fluid). Two of the three teams are now pursuing their projects via the START competition and other start-up assistance programs, a promising development!
Projects to improve everyday life
This year, four students from the Masters in Information Systems (Anne-Lise Dequenne, Alicia Roschnik, Nan Chen and Camille Glatz) are participating in CHIC as part of the following teams:
“For this 5th edition, we will put special emphasis on the dimension of data,” explains Marc Laperrouza. “The teams are encouraged to look more deeply into the way that connected devices are handled, monetized, protected and visualised.” Moreover, we have reinforced certain aspects relating to inter-professional skills by introducing a team contract that follows the participant throughout the program and works as a basis for reflexivity.”
We wish all the teams of CHIC success in their endeavours!
You may follow the development of the various projects via the CHIC blog and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.