Have you ever imagined this kind of life: By using a mobile phone to replace all remote controls and switches at home, you can shut off all electrical appliances with a single button when you step out the door, or control the temperature and turn on the lights in advance before you get home? Recently, with a similar design plan, the “Firefly Innovator” team organized by students at the School of Computer and Communication of Shandong RTVU won third prize in the “China Innovator” National Universities Contest, with Rong Lili and Lian Lijun winning the title of excellent instructors.

“Firefly Innovator” team is made up of five students from the class of 2012 at the School of Computer and Communication. They are Zhao Xiaoting, Zhao Kai, Dong Jie, Lu Sen, and Wang Guoliang. “Firefly Innovator” indicates that although the light from one firefly is weak, a team of fireflies will be able to have powerful strength. The design concept which they put forward is “Controller’s Smart Home”, meaning that all household appliances can be controlled by a mobile phone or tablet by means of the Internet.  

The contest was comprised of four stages, including project application, submission of project plan, network voting, and the final competition. Under the guidance of the Dean of the School of Computer and Communication, Zhang Xuelin, and instructors Rong Lili and Lian Lijun, “Firefly Innovator” stood out from more than 200 entrepreneurial teams in colleges and universities nation wide, and, after one and a half years, finally stepped onto the medal podium with other professional entrepreneurial teams from famous universities. During the project plan submission process, the five students of the “Firefly Innovator” team carried out market investigation before and after the Spring Festival. They designed a questionnaire and carried out market research targeting many groups, including their friends, relatives, and the general public. They visited shopping malls that sell smart home appliances to inquire about the functions and prices of such products in order to better understand the market and determine the advantage of various product designs. Additionally, they visited some smart home appliance manufacturers to obtain basic information of such products, including costs. After submitting their project plan, they were selected to be among the top 50 throughout the country. For the competition finals, they shoot a video promo, produced an exhibition stand, and prepared a multimedia presentation, which was required by the contest.   

“China Innovator” National Universities Contest is a nationwide innovative venture competition oriented towards Internet business projects with teachers and students in colleges and universities as the main participants. The reward and total investment for the first contest reached one million Yuan. This session was jointly organized by China Association of Inventions, Shandong Electronics Association, Shandong Information Industry Association, and China Science Merchants Capital Management Group. The students who submitted successful projects enjoy the chance to have their work recommended and exhibited before a great audience, and to be recommended for employment opportunities in many listed companies.  

By Shandong RTVU