Innovation@Work Successfully Concluded in Beijing
The "Best Team" and "Innovation Star College Student of the Year" Bring Brilliance to the Stage
Beijing, March 21, 2010 - UPS (NYSE:UPS) announced today that the Innovation@Work initiative jointly launched by UPS and Junior Achievement China (JA China) for students in 10 universities throughout China had successfully concluded in Beijing. The program culminated in a three-day finale held in Beijing, where the top three university teams emerged as winners. Of those three teams, Li Jinlong and Yang Xin from Shanghai Jiaotong University, due to their excellent creative thinking and business plan, were awarded the honor of "Best Team". In addition, Bai Qingran from Sichuan University was likewise awarded the title of "Innovation Star College Student of the Year" for his outstanding creative thinking and business plan.
Innovation@Work is the first-ever nationwide student program introduced by The UPS Foundation in Asia. Through a US$100,000 grant, it aims to strengthen the innovative leadership abilities of Chinese university students and teach them the skills necessary for their future careers. Launched on November 7, 2009 at Fudan University in Shanghai, Innovation@Work is a three-part program that involves six half-day interactive workshops; a "Business Plan Challenge" and a final three-day "Innovation Challenge" held in Beijing from March 19 to 21, 2010. The program is open to all university students in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu .The initiative also inspired 100 UPS employees to volunteer as trainers in the workshops to share their career experience.
After two rounds of preliminary screening and evaluation of the students' business plans, 40 students from universities in four cities were selected from the "Business Plan Challenge" to enter the finals. During the three-day competition, they formed 20 teams to develop and present plans for a series of challenging business scenarios to a select panel of judges composed of business leaders in China. One challenge included planning and designing a marketing promotions plan for the Water Cube, an Olympic venue, in three hours.
During the finale, the students challenged traditional concepts and explored new thinking to come up with new ideas. Both the judges and guests were amazed by the students' bold creativity and attention to details, as well as the feasibility of the forward-looking plans. The presentation of one team in particular, which was the introduction and promotion for a program demonstration of a "new type of electromagnetic shield paint", had an especially high market and social value, fully demonstrating the active and pioneer thoughts of today's university students.
Ultimately, the first place team award went to Li Jinlong and Yangxin from Shanghai Jiaotong University, with a team from Sichuan University winning second place, two teams from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and Beijing Institute of Technology tying for third, and Bo Qingran from Sichuan University winning the title of "Innovation Star College Student of the Year" for his exceptionally innovative solution. He said after the meeting, "The biggest gain for me in participating in the contest was the opportunity to learn systematic methods for innovation. Our efforts on teamwork, market research, brainstorming, and plan presentation during Innovation@Work helped us to quickly develop our innovative capacity and competitiveness, and be more confident."
"Current statistics show that on average, only 0.3% of Chinese college students are entrepreneurs. However, the U.S., whose numbers are representative of Western countries, has a 20% average ratio of college entrepreneurs. This gap reflects the lack of an entrepreneurial environment, both with regard to Chinese educational programs and a society that encourages innovation in its youth," said Richard Loi, Head of UPS China and Senior Vice President for UPS Asia Pacific Region. "UPS's own global success is the result of 103 years of hard work and a commitment to innovation. As such, UPS plans to contribute to cultivating the next generation of innovative business leaders in China by continuing to monitor and support the innovative activities of Chinese university students."
"From this inaugural program launched together with UPS, we are very pleased to see China's young generation demonstrating a high level of preparedness," said Ms. Gao Yang, Executive Director of Junior Achievement China. "The enthusiasm, creativity and ability to put ideas into real practice displayed by the students during the contest have assured us of the "future of innovation" in China. We hope they can learn something valuable from this experience and kick-start their career smoothly. "
One of the judges for the finals competition, the Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Greater China and WPP Greater China, T.B. Song, spoke highly of the competition: "It was an honor to work with this group of young minds, who presented a great number of highly innovative and feasible projects during the innovation contest. I look forward to seeing them become a reality. Moreover, a number of teams mentioned "environmental protection" in their business plans. That the students placed a high importance on this universally relevant topic of discussion is highly commendable."
Through The UPS Foundation, UPS has engaged in various forms of public welfare programs as part of its commitment to become a first-class corporate citizen in China. Since 2004, The UPS Foundation has provided more than US$2.6 million in grants to non-profit organizations in China. Through the annual Global Volunteer Month, UPS employees in China have dedicated more than 15,000 volunteer service hours. In addition, UPS has long supported education and cultural development by funding a variety of educational programs, scholarships and endowments to allow for a steady influx of new talent and ideas.
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