Expanding prototyping camp creates 'safe environment for failure'

The China Hardware Innovation Camp, in which students from EPFL and other schools work together to create connected devices, is easily taken for a tech accelerator or incubator. In fact, its emphasis on learning from mistakes, rather than selling a product, is the program's greatest strength. The fifth edition of the China Hardware Innovation Camp (CHIC) drew a record 47 participants comprising eight teams, four of which included EPFL master's students. After months of preparation, they concluded a two-week prototyping trip to Shenzhen and Hong Kong at the end of July. "This year pushed us beyond our limits. We learned a lot, but now we have to decide whether and how to keep scaling up," says program co-founder Marc Laperrouza, a scientist and lecturer in the College of Humanities ( CDH ). CHIC is an elective program in CDH's Minor in Science, Technology and Area Studies ( STAS ), supported in part by the Canton of Vaud.