Bright ideas make competition's final cut

The following are four projects that entered the final of the first "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Guangdong-Macao-Hong Kong" youth innovation and entrepreneurship competition held by Tsinghua University and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance of China.

Air-washing faucet

Using high-pressure atomization technology to replace traditional water flow, this cutting-edge bathroom fixture can save up to 90 percent of the volume of water used by traditional taps. It can be used in shopping malls, public toilets and showers, as well as vehicle-cleaning and industrial-cleaning applications.

Each air-washing faucet can save about 120 metric tons of water every year and reduce sewage discharge by the same amount. The project received a gold medal at the 44th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in 2016.

Its creator, Beijing Mooyee Technology, a startup founded by graduates from Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University, has already established cooperation with real estate companies, universities and city governments.

DNA's killer application

A group of doctorates in genetics at Fudan University provided DNA technology used to help arrest serial killer Gao Chengyong, dubbed China's "Jack the Ripper", who raped and killed 11 women between 1988 and 2002 in northern and northwestern China.

By testing seminal stains, the team speculated the man was from Gansu province and surnamed Gao, helping to reduce the time it took to hunt down and apprehend him. In 2018, they participated in a case that had remained unsolved for 12 years in Zhejiang province.

Based on blood samples, they concluded that the suspects in the case were either cousins or a nephew and uncle from southern Shandong province. The case was solved within two months.

The startup, Shanghai Enlighten Biotechnology, says it has cooperated with several police stations in places such as Suzhou in Jiangsu province, Guangzhou in Guangdong province and Longyan in Fujian province.

Safety helmet

Training students to operate industrial machinery, such as forklifts and pump trucks, can be risky both in terms of safety and economic losses in the event of an accident. However, employing virtual reality can decrease the costs and time required to train people to handle such equipment.

Liu Yuhan, CEO of the Qinhuangdao Shi Yi Technology, says that its VR helmet provides users with an immersive, realistic experience. If they do something wrong, they will endure the vivid feeling of, for instance, being flipped over with the vehicle.

He says such training can leave a deeper impression than just reading books or watching videos.

The VR product can be also used to teach the assembly and disassembly of industrial equipment.

The eyes have it

White-collar workers often deal with high pressure. CherubiMind (Beijing) Technology's eye patches are capable of examining brain waves, heart rates and other physical indexes to provide insights into a person's mental state. It can also work to positively affect their brain activity using music or light.

The device can be used in the office, homes, trains or airplanes. CherubiMind says the product can also be used in psychological tests of airline pilots.

It can provide analyses of candidates' spatial cognition, orientation perception, emotional control, and coordination between body and mind. Major members of the company include graduates from Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.