Innovations workshop marks 60 years of bilateral ties

Energy-Measuring Clock/Photo provided by Interactive Institute

Race to Innovation

The celebration of bilateral ties also included the annual workshop 72-Hour Race to Innovation, which teaches participants how to transform ideas into products and get them into the market within 72 hours.

The model was developed by Professor Kaj Mikos based on the idea that innovations are indispensable to staying competitive in the global market and that speed is a key factor. This year’s theme was “Improving Daily Life.”

Ten Swedish and Chinese participants – with diverse backgrounds, including sports, the arts, academia, media and business – were divided into two groups and tasked to come up with new product ideas within three days.

The exercise resulted in the birth of more than a hundred ideas on May 19, the workshop’s closing day. Sixteen were approved for patenting.

Six of the most promising products were presented by their designers to the media: a USB wire holder, a mall-map positioning application for smart phones, a double-layer glass window sheet, a genetically modified food tester, an anti-spill cover for containers and a multifunctional hook.

“It is even more amazing that these came from teams whose members were strangers at the start of the workshop,” Mikos said. “Now they will work together for the rest of their lives toward a common goal.