Feng Chia University students excelled at a major global student entrepreneurship event.

The 2024 European Innovation Academy (EIA) competition was held at the School of Economics of Porto University in Portugal from July 14th to August 2nd. Since 2017, Feng Chia University has actively encouraged and sponsored students to participate in this competition. This year, 18 students were selected to join, and they formed teams with more than 400 participants from dozens of countries around the world to compete fiercely. In this EIA competition, Feng Chia University students performed excellently, standing out from 76 teams, with 6 teams and 7 Feng Chia students entering the 11 Top Teams. More than half of the winning teams had Feng Chia students in them, fully demonstrating their strength and potential in innovation and entrepreneurship.

20 Feng Chia teachers and students went to Portugal to participate in the 2024 European Innovation Academy competition from July 14th to August 2nd. Among them, 7 students participated in 6 teams' entrepreneurial projects and won the Top Team awards.

The EIA, which is jointly organized by internationally renowned universities and enterprises such as Stanford University, University of California Berkeley, Google, etc., is the world's largest student entrepreneurship project. In the three-week event, students learned through lectures, workshops and team collaboration, from concept creation to product development, completing a complete entrepreneurial project. Through entrepreneurship education, students not only learn the knowledge and skills of entrepreneurship, but more importantly, they can enhance their employability and have more opportunities to enter large international enterprises or organizations in the future. This is in line with the original intention of the EIA, and also with the educational goals of Feng Chia University.

To help students cope with the unfamiliar environment and high-intensity challenges, Feng Chia specially trained the participating students before departure, and during the competition, there were team leaders Liang Chenrui and Chen Tingting, as well as several teachers in the school, to provide guidance and support for the students, laying a solid foundation for their success. During the competition, the students all said that they faced pressures and challenges such as language expression, topic changes and team coordination. These cross-national team learning experiences far exceeded traditional classroom learning. They tried to apply what they learned to solve problems. Although the process was hard, they left priceless experiences and precious memories of self-growth, which will become important assets for their future careers.

The projects of Feng Chia students covered fields such as artificial intelligence, financial technology, educational technology, etc., showing their diverse interests and cross-disciplinary collaboration abilities. The entrepreneurial projects were praised by the judges, which was the best reward for the students' hard work, and also a recognition of the school's educational achievements. In the future, Feng Chia will continue to support and encourage students to participate in international innovation competitions, to improve their practical abilities and international vision, and cultivate more excellent innovative talents.

The 2024 EIA participating students completed a complete entrepreneurial project from concept creation to product> development through lectures, workshops and international team collaboration.

Tseng Yuchen, from the International School of Technology and Management of Feng Chia University (middle), formed a team with students from UC Berkeley, Technological University Dublin, Singapore University of Social Sciences, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong to enter the Top Team with Nitelight.