ABB Group launches contest to cultivate local innovative talents

With China entering a new era of green and innovation-led growth, ABB Group, the Swiss technology company, launched the 2023 ABB Cup Innovation Contest in China on Tuesday to support the cultivation of local innovative talents, according to a statement released by the company.

Themed "Intelligent Technologies for the Future", the contest this year involves areas such as power electronics, machine learning, mathematical modeling, industrial robotics and human-computer interaction, with the aim of promoting open and innovative thinking among young people, and enhancing their ability to solve real-world problems by exploring interdisciplinary approaches.

The contest invites students from vocational schools and universities in China to create bold innovations and designs around either of the two set topics, namely AI-based modeling for predicting the temperature of insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) in drives, and robot programming and remote control for domino. Students can join the competition individually or in teams.

Gu Chunyuan, chairman of ABB China, said China's high-quality economic growth depends on high-level technical professionals, particularly the outstanding engineers that meet new requirements from the emerging technologies, industries and business models.

"With a focus on engineering practice, the contest aims to advance the student's innovation and practical skills, and encourage them to try to solve technical problems in real industrial scenes by making full use of interdisciplinary knowledge, so as to adapt to the changes brought about by new technologies," said Gu.

Zhang Nan, secretary-general of Beijing-based Chinese Association of Automation (CAA), the co-organizer of the contest, said China's new engineering construction emphasizes the interdisciplinary integration, combining science, humanities and engineering.

In line with this trend, the innovation contest encourages participants to break down barriers between disciplines and innovate cross-boundaries, so as to cultivate outstanding engineering talents who are able to solve problems through interdisciplinary research and meet the needs for the future development of industries, said Zhang.

The Embassy of Switzerland in China and the Consulate General of Switzerland in Shanghai have been strong supporters of the contest over the years. Jurg Burri, ambassador of Switzerland to China, said that since the establishment of China-Swiss innovative strategic partnership, the two countries have carried out fruitful cooperation in technology innovation.