MTU pupil Ena O’Driscoll discusses her journey to China as a part of the 2025 cohort of Huawei’s Seeds for the Future programme.
Final month, a gaggle of scholars based mostly at quite a lot of Irish universities visited China as a part of the 2025 version of the Huawei Seeds for the Future programme.
As a part of the journey, the ten college students spent three days in Dongguan visiting the Huawei Dongguan Coaching Centre in addition to attending ICT programs, earlier than travelling to Shenzhen for an extra 4 days the place they visited Huawei HQ, toured a neighborhood Chinese language tech firm and took time to discover and expertise the native tradition.
The group additionally received an opportunity to interact with Seeds contributors from different international locations, together with Laos, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Guinea, South Korea, Cameroon, Cambodia, Rwanda and Nigeria.
Among the many college students within the Irish cohort was Ena O’Driscoll, a mechanical engineering pupil at Munster Technological College.
O’Driscoll tells SiliconRepublic.com that she was inspired to hitch Seeds by one in all her lecturers, who believed that she would profit from the tutorial insights that earlier college students received from the programme.
As a mechanical engineering pupil, she explains, she wouldn’t usually be uncovered to among the subjects featured within the programme, similar to 5G, AI, digital energy and cloud computing.
“I believed this was a implausible alternative to expertise one thing fully new in a studying setting and to have the ability to have interaction with different individuals who have a profound information of those areas was one thing that I didn’t need to miss,” she says.
Taking in native tech
AI was a subject that notably hooked O’Driscoll, particularly its functions in sensible metropolis growth and sensible merchandise. She tells us she was most fascinated by the tech’s capabilities in optimising safety and the way it can enhance emergency responses, in addition to experiences – as seen within the work of Chinese language AI firm AI Mall.
“The concept of know-how getting used not only for effectivity, however for bettering on a regular basis experiences, actually resonated with me,” she says. “What I discovered fascinating was how AI Mall needed to enhance the procuring expertise of consumers. It aligned with my curiosity in each tech innovation and environmental influence, and it’s an space I hope to contribute to sooner or later.”
The Seeds programme, in addition to giving college students a style of China’s tech scene and tradition, additionally helps collaboration between the scholars. As O’Driscoll explains, every participant was given a journey booklet that listed each day collaborative actions to assist the scholars go from a “seed to a flower”.
“A few of these collaborations included discovering an individual with related pursuits or one thing in widespread, one other one can be discussing your favorite scientist with one other pupil who shared the identical one,” says O’Driscoll.
The scholars additionally had frequent alternatives to debate new applied sciences and the varied lectures they attended.
Talks and drones
O’Driscoll says there have been two standout moments of the programme for her.
The primary of which was a roundtable dialogue that featured three audio system – Biman Liyanage, Nil Larom and Bangaly Toure – who explored subjects similar to AI and psychological well being, generative AI and AI in telecommunications.
“On the finish of the roundtable, we (the scholars) got the chance to ask any follow-up questions,” says O’Driscoll. “These subjects result in nice dialogue among the many Irish staff on the break.”
Her second standout second was the group’s web site go to to Chinese language drone producer DJI, which she described as a “very eye-opening expertise”.
“They displayed the historical past of their fashions and mentioned every new growth and the explanation behind the brand new improve,” she says. “Following on from this, we watched a reside demo of ‘Neo’ which has a function of launching from one’s hand and following the person robotically.”
The general expertise
With an opportunity to replicate on the journey, O’Driscoll says she got here approach from the programme with plenty of constructive experiences.
“Firstly, being a part of a gaggle of 10 individuals who received on so properly was crucial,” she says. “Having the ability to talk about quite a lot of subjects, each instructional and social, made the general journey so nice.
“Along with this, having the ability to meet new folks from international international locations was an incredible method to community and add to the expertise. I learnt a lot about various cultures and traditions.”
She additionally tells us that the Seeds programme has influenced her profession ambitions in plenty of methods.
Having been totally impressed by China’s tech developments, she intends to discover tips on how to develop an extra understanding of how she will be able to combine tech successfully in her on a regular basis life and in her future mechanical engineering pursuits.
“As an aspiring mechanical engineering pupil who enjoys innovation, using AI may very well be very helpful in progressing new designs and ideas which may make a distinction to folks’s lives,” says O’Driscoll. “For example, one of many initiatives my staff and I have been engaged on final yr centered on the biometric monitoring of glaucoma.
“After attending Seeds for the Future, I’m now motivated to be taught extra about tips on how to implement AI into our mission and make a constructive distinction to the lives of those that would use the product.”
Earlier this yr, college students from Eire’s 2024 Seeds cohort noticed vital success on the Seeds for the Future Tech4Good world last in China.
After beforehand being topped European champions for his or her mission, which centered on growing a wearable system that detects anaphylaxis in kids and immediately alerts dad and mom and on-site caregivers, Eire’s Workforce Anaphero claimed a top-three place on the world last.
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