The University-Corporation Innovation Lab (U-Corp) - DKU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative

University-Corporation Innovation Lab (U-Corp) is a co-innovation platform established to provide long-term strategic partnerships between innovative organizations/companies and Duke Kunshan University. U-Corp Lab helps innovative organizations/companies develop relationships with the vibrant DKU research and entrepreneurial community and access emerging talent through co-innovation projects.  At the same time, DKU students will be involved in co-innovation projects with companies, mastering industry-proven innovation research methodologies through productive practice.

When students are completing the projects, organizations/companies will share their perspectives and corresponding research methodologies in these areas with students, while students will learn to master these methodologies under the guidance of faculty/researcher/industrial experts and combine their expertise and skills to clarify and define the specifics of the innovative project, conduct research, provide insights, and propose creative solutions.

2025 Spring U-Corp Lab Call for Application!

In Spring 2025, the U-Corp program will launch recruitment for 7 projects across various fields, including health services, social innovation, art preservation, entrepreneurship ecosystems for individuals with disabilities, AI+hardware, and energy innovation. The themes include exploring strategies for chronic disease management, multidimensional public welfare innovation practices, reviving and preserving the music and film culture of the 1980s, developing entrepreneurship ecosystems and community engagement for individuals with disabilities, user research for interactive companionship products, innovating and implementing community maintenance mechanisms, and selecting innovative enterprises in smart energy.

We warmly invite interested students to review the recruitment details provided and submit your applications to join our 2025 Spring U-Corp journey. This is a unique opportunity to explore the frontiers of academic and industry integration. We look forward to your participation! The application deadline is 11:59 PM on February 8.

If you would like to learn more about the 2025 Spring U-Corp projects and explore the details of U-Corp, join us for the Info Session on the afternoon of January 21st at LIB 2001 (4-5 PM), free food will be served.

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Exploration of Smart Energy Innovation Pathways and Enterprise Selection: Technologies and Applications in the Field of Sustainable Energy

U-Corp @ NewEnergyNexus

Nurturing Engagement: Strategies for Active User Retention in Global Markets

U-Corp @ ErroRight (Community Building)

Gen Z at the Core: Strategic Innovation for ErroRight’s Interactive Companion Products in Global Markets

U-Corp @ ErroRight (Market Research)

Enhancing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Community Engagement for People with Disabilities

U-Corp @ Impact Hub

Retro Futures: Reviving the Spirit of 1980s Audiovisual and Music Media Assets

U-Corp @ Synth Grid Project

Cultivating Compassion: Inclusive Innovations in Diverse Public Welfare Practices

U-Corp @ Buy42

Health Innovation in Action: Exploration and Practice of Chronic Disease Strategies at Kunshan Gaoxinqu Tinglin Community Health Service Center

U-Corp @ Kunshan Tinglin Community Health Service Center

What You Can Get:

Get in touch with innovative practices, culture, and ways of thinking in the context of industry and commerce.
Conduct in-depth research on the industry to gain knowledge of the field around the industry value chain.
Use a variety of industry-validated methods and tools for research.

Improve innovation capabilities, teamwork, and research capabilities through practical project experience.
Gain a unique perspective on the field and first-hand experience in choosing a relevant career path.

Specific Themes And Focus Areas:

Concept & Solution Design

In response to specific market trends or complex issues, students engage in systematic research and in-depth, comprehensive creative exploration. Students apply their creative skills, tools, and methods to design concepts and solutions that address problems and validate their feasibility through preliminary planning.

Data Analysis

By combining humanities and social sciences with computer or data science, students are equipped to support businesses in understanding macro trends in areas such as the environment, global health, political economy, and globalization through the analysis of complex datasets and offer insights.

Creative Media

Students utilize interactive technologies, new media across social and traditional platforms, and innovative communication channel combinations to explore and create new communication methods for businesses. This includes prototyping media content and turning concepts into reality.

Market Research

Businesses can leverage students’ understanding of research methods, behavioral science, and their access to a vast young consumer group to gain further insights into the Chinese domestic market. Students can use primary and secondary market research techniques to help businesses understand the basic trends of market acceptance based on demographic parameters, providing business leaders with valuable insights.

Computation & Design

Companies can utilize DKU’s focus area to address fundamental machine learning challenges (often emphasizing model training using public datasets), provide unique solutions for structured data analysis in fields such as urban design, environmental sustainability, and global networks, or explore unique 3D modeling and data visualization methods for specific applications.

How It Works?

Step 1: Corporate Partner Engagement

Company partners will understand that this is an academic endeavor and serves multiple objectives, helping the company gain a new perspective on their challenge and potential solutions and providing an experiential learning opportunity for the student participants.

Step 2: Scope the Project and Identify the Target Student

U-Corp Team works in collaboration with company partners to scope project challenges and deliverables accordingly. Once scoped, U-Corp will co-create an executive summary of the challenge with the company partner and publish the same to the student community.

Step 3: Recruit Student Participants

An executive summary will be published to the DKU students via virous channels. All current DKU students are eligible to apply for participation in U-Corp projects. Students can apply for multiple projects if they choose. The U-Corp team will review the student applications, the company partner request, and the challenge deliverables in order to select the best combination of students for a given project.

Step 4: Project Kick-off and Training

U-Corp team will work with the corporate partner to prepare an initial project brief to be shared with the student participants. The student teams will have a chance to meet with the corporate leaders engaged in this project, ask questions, and better understand the nature of the project, the value being created for the corporate sponsor, and the target deliverables.

Step 5: Project Execution

U-Corp team will oversee the students as they execute the projects over the next 4-6 weeks. The initial steps often include some research and alignment on a specific roadmap for the given project and scope. While the U-Corp team has some basic project roadmaps for standard project types (i.e. Concept Design Projects, Data Analysis Projects, etc.), it is also expected that some customizations will be required. Once the roadmap is defined, the student team will drive the project with occasional “pulse checks” with their mentor and the U-Corp team.

Step 6: Final Reporting

Upon completion of the project, the student teams will report back to the corporate sponsor. These final reports are expected to take about 1 hour and include significant discussion and Q&A. While each project will have specific deliverables, it is expected that most teams will provide a final package to the corporate sponsor which includes: the team’s research and all sources, prototypes (usually media and not physical prototypes), a final presentation including key learnings, insights, and recommendations for the corporate sponsor.

Who Is Involved?

Components

Company Partners

Company partners create the engine to drive the program.

Student Participants

Student participants execute the projects with training and mentoring.

Mentors

Mentors provide guidance and experienced advice to the participant teams.

U-Corp Team

U-Corp team manages the projects and facilitates the conversations among all parties.

Contribution And Benefit

U-Corp

Company

Student

Contribution

Program structure to meet the needs of both students and company partners
Sourced and scoped projects
Structure and support to teams

A focus area and learning objective
Senior leadership sponsorship and senior manager participation in the program
Industry and market knowledge

Time and energy
Their unique perspective and access to their networks
New and creative approaches to industry challenges

Benefit

An impactful program in the DKU portfolio
A closer relationship with local corporate partners

A fresh perspective on their challenge
Creative solutions from young generations
Incremental capacity to work on an important topic

Great experience to build confidence and demonstrate capability
Exposure to innovation leaders, cultures and mindsets
New team skills for solving challenging problems