Spirit of Nobel fires up innovation exchange

The second prize was won by a team from Fudan University who developed a cloud platform for an adjuvant therapy system using AI and computer vision technology to reduce the misdiagnosis rate.

The third prize was awarded to a team from Nanjing University for their project offering innovative video solutions through the use of AI algorithms to ultimately enhance the human visual experience.

The Nobel Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was jointly organized by the Consulate General of Sweden, Shanghai Jiaotong University and Shanghai Yangpu district government.

Among the 12 teams competing in the final, nine were from Chinese universities, including Shanghai Jiaotong University, Fudan University, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Nanjing University and Zhejiang University, and three Swedish teams from the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

"We hope to stimulate more innovation and entrepreneurship in the spirit of Nobel, or rather, the Nobel Prize," says Lisette Lindahl, consul-general of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Sweden in Shanghai.

"Any technological innovation is popularized by commercialization and industrialization to profit the society. It is in the same sense that Nobel left his fortune to establish the Nobel Prize, which is to reward those who have made the greatest contribution to mankind."

Lindahl says the exchange between Sweden and China could help to find creative solutions to many common problems affecting society, whether they be environment challenges, elderly care, health problems or energy issues.

China has taken a stride forward in encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship.

At a State Council executive meeting in August, Premier Li Keqiang said that the country must give full play to the role of innovation in spurring entrepreneurship and employment, and speed up the transformation of innovation into real productivity.

A guideline on encouraging entrepreneurship, the first of its kind, was released by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council in September.

The document acknowledges an appreciation of the significant role entrepreneurship plays in national economic progress, and promises to establish a supportive environment for it to prosper.

It also advocates the promotion of the entrepreneurial spirit, which includes hard work, the pursuit of excellence, craftsmanship, innovation and social responsibility.