The Shanghai Innovation Institute hosted a technology carnival from Sept 13 to 14, attracting visitors eager to explore the one-year-old institution and discover its latest achievements.

The institute fosters a unique learning environment, featuring 81 full-time mentors, more than 130 part-time instructors, and over 120 industry experts from leading technology firms.

It currently enrolls nearly 800 doctoral students across 45 disciplines and aims to break traditional education frameworks while building a new ecosystem for cultivating top-tier AI talent.

Ding Xiaodong, executive vice-dean of the Shanghai Innovation Institute, highlighted that the institute values responsible, ambitious, and resilient.

Admissions at SIIC take place throughout the year. A spring camp in March is for postgraduate admits; a summer camp in May is for undergraduates applying directly to PhD programs; an autumn camp in October offers a "second chance" for recommended postgraduates from other universities; and a winter camp in December is open to professionals from industry. Everyone from undergraduates to venture-backed entrepreneurs and AI engineers can apply for part-time doctoral programs.

SIIC follows a flexible training model with no compulsory semesters, minimum duration requirements, or final exams. The focus is on student-oriented research, where students can even serve as principal investigators for innovation projects.

Kang Chun, a former sociology student, joined SIIC to tackle seniors' tech challenges. She developed an elder-friendly AI model using more than 100 hours of senior language data.

Chai Fu, a 2024 doctoral student, added that here students can decide what to learn, and the college provides the platform to make it happen.

Source: Shanghai Observer