From Innovation Lab to Innovation Hub: Creativity, Happening Now New spaces. New equipment. New programs. New opportunities. From an inspiration to a sketch; from a first attempt to a prototype; and from a prototype to a work that can truly be seen, used, and shared. This is Innovation Hub — a cross-disciplinary innovation and maker…
Hosted by the Duke Kunshan University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative (InE), Innovation Week 2026 brought together more than 1,000 students, faculty members, and external partners for a week of exploration, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. Across 17 events, participants engaged in workshops, forums, project showcases, and entrepreneurial activities organized through DKU’s three innovation platforms—Co-Innovate, InLab, and…
The visit began with light‑hearted questions posed by student volunteers: “What do you think is different between primary school and university?” Their lively responses set the tone for an afternoon of discovery. Students toured the DKU Library, where the academic atmosphere left a deep impression. Inside the DKU Innovation Lab, 3D printers captured their attention…
Yiwu—known as the “World’s Supermarket”—is a major hub where global merchants, digital commerce, and small‑commodity manufacturing converge. To understand this unique business ecosystem, students from the DKU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative participated in a three‑day immersive field program in the city. Day 1: Entrepreneurship and Foreign Trade Insights Students began at the International Youth Entrepreneurship…
“In the charity shop, you can buy acts of kindness as well as things you may need — and beyond the physical items, you also take away a warmth in your heart. There are many special people here, and (ShanTao) allows them to participate in real work. Kindness is exchanged here, and (ShanTao) helps more…
For many, perfume is inseparable from Western romance—lavender fields in Provence, sunlit citrus groves in Italy, desire distilled into glass bottles. For Ruitong (Lricy) Li, however, perfume belongs to an entirely different world. It is Eastern, unhurried, a quiet dialogue between breath, time, and inner rhythm. That worldview took shape almost by accident. As a freshman at…
To deeply integrate social responsibility into the university’s education, research, and campus engagement, Duke Kunshan University (DKU), in collaboration with the DKU Foundation, launched a university-wide initiative—the DKU Empower program. Over the past three years, the DKU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative (DKU InE), in partnership with the DKU Foundation, has been carrying out a series…
DKU undergraduate student Hanyang Zhou, Huiqiao Yuan, and Ai Zhou have recently achieved a significant milestone in the “U-Corp @ PEER (AI Research)” project. The team presented their project, “An Exploratory Investigation into the Use of Generative AI in Creative Writing as a Means of Emotional Support for Middle School Students in a County-level Context in China,” at the 69th Comparative International Education Society (CIES) Annual Conference. The team presented their research findings and engaged in in-depth discussions with global scholars at the conference.
Yuri Park’s journey with the DKU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative (InE) began with a simple idea that gradually evolved into something more profound. Initially focused on using creativity to connect people and solving practical, everyday problems through design, she eventually refined her design perspective by exploring the intersection of technology and social issues. Yuri now…
On April 20, 11 remarkable DKU student entrepreneurship projects took the stage to pitch bold innovations to investors and industry experts – and they delivered. From AI and medtech to edutech and beyond, these founders are solving real problems and building the future. To everyone who joined us: thank you for believing in big ideas…
