BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Youth from China and the United States displayed their innovative projects at the 2019 China-U.S. Young Maker Competition and called for further exchanges and cooperation in innovation.
Organized by the Ministry of Education, the competition's final award ceremony was held Friday in Beijing. Among the 10 grand prizes, seven went to Chinese teams.
The winning projects focused on areas of community development, education, environmental protection, health and fitness, energy, transportation and other areas of sustainable development.
Damen Wilson, an undergraduate student from Purdue University, led a team and won a grand prize in the competition for a device that can be used to treat a type of vertigo.
The wearable device named Verti-Fix can track the motion of vertigo patients' heads and provide feedback to the physicians with ease. It can also be used in home self-treatment with patients.
"We will target the products toward the elderly, of which the market is huge and will grow due to the longevity of human life and the increasing population," Wilson said.
The competition has been held annually since 2014, serving as a platform to enhance exchange and friendship between Chinese and American young people and to unleash the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit.
Wilson told Xinhua it is exciting to interact with the bright young people in China and see what youth from the United States are making in comparison with the Chinese youth.
"Young Chinese and American makers are full of innovation spirit," he said, adding that their intention to utilize the products to contribute to public interests is impressive.
Chinese student Zhang Huanyu, together with her team, invented an intelligent device to help deaf students communicate in classes using gesture and infrared recognition.
In addition to creativity, many projects at the competition are very practical and thus attract the attention from investors and enterprises, said Zhang, adding that it offers valuable opportunities for subsequent incubation.
China is now further boosting mass entrepreneurship and innovation, and actively integrating into the global innovation network.
At present, a total of 29 universities and institutions set up the exchange centers for young makers to foster a favorable innovation environment.
"China and the United States have broad consensus and huge cooperation potential on the path of innovation," said Wilson, adding that he hoped young people in the two countries would jointly forge ahead to create more excellent projects.
