Innovation and entrepreneurship is a global trend and the lingua franca of the youth worldwide. Young people shape the world’s future and are the mainstay of innovation and entrepreneurship. Faced with the great challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic in this information age, young people around the world should endeavour to enhance people-to-people exchanges, join hands to build an “Internet+” platform of innovation and entrepreneurship, and create a community of shared future for humanity.

Moving in that direction, Team I-Farm from UTAR participated in the 6th China International College Students’ “Internet+” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (第六届中国国际“互联网+” 大学生创新创业大赛) on 18 November 2020 at South China University of Technology (SCUT). The team managed to impress the juries with their business pitch and knowledge and secure a bronze prize in the Higher Education track, Creativity category. Besides walking away with award certificates, they were also provided with assistance in finding investment and incubators. Due to the pandemic, the competition initiated a combination of online and offline contests; the foreign and international teams including Team I-Farm from UTAR joined the finals online.

I-Farm’s team consisted of eight members, namely UTAR Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) students Hoong De Shan, Chang Yik Khoon, Kow Shuen Teng, Hew Jun Hung, Leong Kang Lin, Lee Shi Zhang, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn student Loh Yin Xia and FAM lecturer Dr Seah Choon Sen. They were mentored by FAM Academic Development and Undergraduate Programmes Deputy Dean Dr Hen Kai Wah.

Hosted by the Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China and SCUT as the organiser, The 6th China International College Students’ “Internet+” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was first held in 2015 and has since become one of the world’s largest and most influential platforms for promoting innovation and entrepreneurship among college students.

Bearing the theme ‘Dare to Differ, Dare to Win’, this year the competition attracted 1.47 million projects from 4,186 universities and colleges in 117 economies and regions, including global top universities such as Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, Oxford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technical University of Munich, Moscow Bauman State Technical University, National University of Singapore and many other top universities.

When asked about the team’s inspiration, “The idea was born at UTAR Unovate Centre, which was established in January 2018. The centre aims to cultivate the culture of entrepreneurship among students and nurture the development of young businesses or start-ups," they explained and added, "Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone has to stay at home. I-Farm is a factory that will be placed in each city and area. We intend to transform traditional farming into “Vertical Farming”, by introducing “Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)” indoors. With this idea, even confined places such as condominiums can be used to produce vegetables. Not only would they be able to grow vegetables, but also sell them to the local retailers in the area and people in the neighbourhood, using their e-commerce platform. Additionally, local farmers can also take this opportunity to use the platform to sell their vegetables to the retailers and people to earn money.”