Western Sydney University team wins urban innovation and entrepreneurship competition

Western Sydney University was proud to host the 2021 Guangzhou International Sister-City Universities (GISU) Urban Innovation and Entrepreneurship Final Competition on Tuesday, 9 November 2021.

Team ‘C02 Concrete’ from the University’s School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment took out the Gold Award sponsored by A.C.E Entrepreneur Platform and team ‘KInteract’ from Launch Pad took out one of three Bronze Awards. The two mentors from each team were also recognised.

The global competition was held in hybrid mode from the University’s Peter Shergold building and saw seven GISU Alliance member universities participate, with 12 semi-finalist teams progressing to the much-anticipated finals.

Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Barney Glover AO, offered his congratulations to all of the participating student teams.

“Western Sydney University was pleased to host the GISU Urban Innovation and Entrepreneurship Final Competition this year,” said Professor Glover.

“The calibre of teams was outstanding and I thank each participant for their innovative contributions towards sustainable urban development.

“The competition not only brought together some of the brightest student minds but also fostered great international collaboration between sister-city universities.”

This year’s competition highlighted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with a specific focus on innovative, multidisciplinary and impactful concepts. Western Sydney University put forward four talented student teams who responded to the theme, ‘promoting sustainable urban development with scientific and technological innovation’.

Special guests included The Hon Dr Geoffrey Lee, Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education, NSW Government; Ms Andrea Myles, Investment NSW, NSW Government; Councillor Robert Kok, Lord Mayor Representative, City of Sydney; Mr Qiongfei Zhao, Education Bureau of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality; Professor Qu Shaobing, Chairman of the University Council, Guangzhou University; Ms Josephine Lam, Managing Director, A.C.E Entrepreneur Platform; and Professor Yi-Chen Lan, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Global Development, Western Sydney University.

Supported by the People’s Government of the Guangzhou Municipality, the mission of the Alliance of Guangzhou International Sister-City Universities (GISU) is to attract and leverage the academic resources of its members for the sustainable development of our cities.

GISU’s current 13 member universities represent 12 countries and a total population of over 34 million people in the sister-cities. With a combined student enrolment of almost 400,000 and 36,000 faculty and academic staff, GISU’s diversity of academic programs and research capacity represent the best of the world.

Learn more about the competition here (opens in a new window).