Semi-Finalists in the GIX Innovation Competition Compete for a $160K Cash Pool

BELLEVUE, Wash., July 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The third annual GIX Innovation Competition semi-finals will be held at the Global Innovation Exchange Steve Ballmer Building on July 14, 2018. Twenty teams from around the world will present their innovations to a panel of judges in person and via teleconference hoping for a chance to go to the finals in Beijing this August. Countries represented in this year's competition include China, the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Mexico, India, Malaysia and Japan and student contestants come from dozens of universities worldwide.

"The competition always generates a significant number of new ideas and excitement," said Vikram Jandhyala, vice-president for Innovation Strategy at the University of Washington.

The GIX Innovation Competition is a project of the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), a partnership between Tsinghua University and the University of Washington, with foundational support from Microsoft. Winners of the semi-finals will move on to the final competition in Beijing on Aug. 26, competing for a total $160,000 USD cash prize pool.

In the past two years, the GIX Innovation Competition has quickly become an event with major international influence, attracting nearly 1,000 contestants who have presented projects that attracted investment to the market, led to patent applications or continued research and improvements with a view to further development. Multiple colleges and universities in China are hosting GIX presentations on their campuses, inspiring young students to participate and embrace new ideas and new technologies.

Yuanchun Shi, dean of the Global Innovation Exchange Institute of Tsinghua University and the director of HCI & Media Integration Institute of Tsinghua, stated: "This is not a new thing for GIX. It has always been a window to showcase GIX, with its focus on team-based and project-based learning, and how GIX connects to and will contribute to our society."

This year's competition is more diverse than the previous years. Project entries have been both technologically forward-thinking and consumer-focused. For instance, a new FinTech track added this year, with a focus on credit fraud intelligence identification technology, aims to solve today's major market pain point.

The GIX Innovation Competition semi-finals are open to the public with registration (https://gix.uw.edu/rsvp or https://bit.ly/2KDiOBj ). "The semi-finals are a great place to connect to our mentors, advisors and faculty, and to understand what GIX is about. It's almost a small look into what GIX will be like if you become part of GIX," said Jandhyala.

Tsinghua GIX Institute North America

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SOURCE Global Innovation Exchange