Recently, the finals of the 6th China International College Students' "Internet +" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition were held in Guangzhou. Recommended by the Worldwide Energy University Network (WEUN), the teams of "Biofactant" and "Climasel" from Baku Higher Oil School in Azerbaijan won silver and bronze awards.
Tutored by associate professor A. R. Vakhshouri, the team "Biofactant" was composed of H. Gullu, B. Natig and H. Afag, students from Baku Higher Oil School - one of WEUN member universities. They put forward that petroleum-based surfactants in detergents can be replaced by green surfactants extracted from the waste edible oil, thus reducing water pollution from detergents and carbon emission, and improving eco-environment.
There were 31 gold awards, 71 silver awards and 287 bronze awards out of 3,291 international participating projects from 113 countries and regions. As a recommender and liaison unit, China University of Petroleum - Beijing engaged in multiple parts of the competition, such as inviting foreign teams to participate in the competition, registration consulting, material collection, pre-competition guidance, and offering competitors long-distance counseling and consultation before the competition, which greatly supported the teams.
The 6th China College Students' "Internet +" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was co-sponsored by the several government departments such as Ministry of Education of the PRC and some academic institutions like the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. It was undertaken by South China University of Technology, the People's Government of Guangzhou City and the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government. The competition formed a connected education chain of mass entrepreneurship and innovation, including compulsory education, vocational education and higher education through setting up four sections: higher education, vocational education, international track and secondary education. Since the competition was held, 1.47 million projects from 4,186 schools in 117 countries and regions and 6.31 million people at home and abroad, have registered for the competition, among which, a total of 3,291 projects launched by 1,158 schools from 113 foreign nations and regions, have been a part of it. Of top 100 universities worldwide, over half of them have involved in this event, signifying its importance as an essential platform for further educational revolution of innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as a global gathering providing college students an access to realize their dreams of innovation and entrepreneurship.
WEUN is a non-legally binding voluntary membership organization of research universities, brought together by a shared strategic interest in research, innovation, education and internationalization in the field of energy. WEUN was established at a conference on the 22nd September 2018 in Beijing initiated by its founder China University of Petroleum-Beijing (CUP), through the representatives of the first cohort of 28 founding member universities. In 2020, 3 energy universities from Portugal, Russia and the USA joined WEUN and the number of members increased to 31.
Edited by Fan Xiaoyuan
