News & Events

12 Aug 2021

SHARE THIS
University Affairs

The young contribute wisdom to build smart cities at YICGG

By


From July 28 to July 31, Youth Innovation Competition on Global Governance (YICGG) 2021 was held in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. With the theme of “Future Community, Youth Creation: Build Smart Cities to Drive Sustainable Development”, YICGG 2021 aims to seek a prototype for future smart cities featuring coordinated development of technology, ecology and culture. The contestants made proposals centering on the improvement of economy, governance and livelihood facilitated by smart technologies.



In the first round of the competition, 207 young contestants from numerous renowned universities of 46 countries, including University of California, San Diego, Cornell University, University of Alberta, London Metropolitan University, George Washington University, Moscow Product University, Peking University and Renmin University of China, made detailed proposals for the construction and sustainable development of smart cities and 74 contestants from 31 countries entered the final.

  

This year, the competition made full use of digital technologies to overcome the impact of the global pandemic and the extreme weather. The competition this year was divided into online and offline tracks, inviting six experts from the United States, Indonesia, Latvia, Japan and Romania as the judges in the first around. The competition this year also saw 13 new participating countries/regions, such as Morocco and Angola.



Zhong Yu from China and Larisa-Mădălina Munteanu from Romania were awarded the title of Ignite Talk Queen for their eloquence on stage.

  

The team led by Fudan University undergraduates Cui Enhui (China) and Miyatami Maki (Japan) and the team led by Paul Iacob and Pilca Tudor Sergiu from Babes Bolyai University in Romania won the Most Innovative Team award.

  

A project by an international team of six contestants from China, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Nigeria entitled “The three Q System: Quick warning, Quick response and Quick recovery to crisis” was awarded the Most Valuable Project.

  

YICGG set up a new session this year named “We Youth Common Agenda” to discuss global issues and propose an agenda for global governance. The agenda, improved under the guidance of the judges, would be submitted to the UN. In addition, the contestants of the offline track learned how smart systems are applied to city management in Shanghai and Huzhou.

  

A photo exhibition was also held in Shanghai to look back at the history of YICGG. The contestants this year were deeply moved by the passion of previous contestants in contributing to global issues as they visited the exhibition. This exhibition witnessed YICGG’s growth as an important platform for the youth to exchange their insights on innovation and global governance.



The Youth Innovation Competition on Global Governance (YICGG) was jointly launched by Fudan University and the United Nations Development Programme. Over the past 15 years, the competition has continued to explore the establishment of a comprehensive cooperation mechanism integrating governments, enterprises, universities and social organizations to continuously generate innovative ideas, strengthen collaboration, enhance the quality of the competition and build a platform for youth participation in global governance. So far, 531 teams and 2096 contestants from more than 290 universities in 187 countries and territories have participated in the competition, and nearly 640 global governance proposals have been made.



In 2019, YICGG started to build a global cooperation network, the Core Working Network (CWN), covering the most prominent universities, transnational think tanks, youth diplomatic organizations and NGOs. CWN will promote the transformation of YICGG from a single event to a long-term mechanism for youth global governance. Seven universities and institutions from around the world, including Kobe University, University of Latvia,Ruhr-University Bochum, Nepal-China Friendship Forum andUniversitas Indonesia, have joined the network.


Editor: