The national finals of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition (2025) were held from October 13 to 15. DHU secured two gold awards, ranking third among colleges and universities in Shanghai and achieving its best-ever performance in the competition.
The winning projects, rooted in DHU’s disciplinary strength and research experience, address urgent national strategic needs while demonstrating cutting-edge technology and industrial potential. They reflect the enterprising spirit of DHU students in pursuing innovation and excellence. The project from the College of Textiles, “Weaving Lifelines: R&D and Industrialization of High-Value Medical Devices Based on Healthcare Textile Technology”, led by doctoral student Li Hao and supervised by Professors Wang Fujun and Wang Lu, tackled critical challenges in high-end medical devices including artificial blood vessels, through the collaborative efforts of the Bio-medical Textile Materials team. It showcased DHU’s achievements in cultivating top-notch innovative talents through interdisciplinary medicine-engineering programs. Another project from the College of Mechanical Engineering, “Breaking Barriers with Weaving: Pioneering Large-Sized Shaped Composite Weaving Technology”, featured Li Qiyang and Ye Yinping as core team memberswith the guidance of Xi Xinfu and Wang Xiaohui．The project was jointly developed by teachers and students, directly confronting international challenges in the manufacturing of large composite materials. The relevant technologies have already been applied to major national projects, including the world’s first carbon fiber high-speed train, serving as a vivid demonstration of DHU’s deeply integrated industry-academia-research educational model.
In this year’s competition, a total of eight projects from DHU advanced to the national finals, spanning multiple strategic emerging fields such as New Engineering, New Medical Science, and New Materials. This fully reflects DHU’s significant advantages in optimizing disciplinary structure and strengthening technological innovation and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements. DHU attached great importance to the organization of the competition, carrying out systematic planning and providing comprehensive support to firmly bolster students’ innovative practices. During the campus preliminary round, 1,344 projects were submitted, with 5,214 students participating— setting a new record in scale. In the Shanghai municipal competition, DHU achieved outstanding results, winning 4 gold, 9 silver, and 12 bronze awards.
This historic breakthrough exemplifies DHU’s commitment to strengthening innovation capacity training and exploring new models for cultivating top-notch innovative talent in line with the national push for new industrialization. It also represents a concrete practice of deeply integrating high-level academic competitions into the “Comprehensive Reform” initiative. Through project-based learning, DHU incorporates real-world industry challenges, cutting-edge scientific issues, and national strategic needs into teaching practice. This approach guides instructors to transition from “knowledge transmitters” to “project coaches” and “innovation partners”, enabling students to hone their ability to solve real-world problems through the pattern of “learning by doing and comprehending through creating”, nurturing a scientific spirit and entrepreneurial mindset. In this way, DHU is expected to supply high-quality and top-notch innovative talents for the national innovation-driven development strategy.
The competition attracted 6.19 million projects from 24.43 million participants, representing 5,673 institutions across 161 countries and regions.
