24 November, Beijing – The final competition of this year’s U&AI | AI for SDGs Youth Bootcamp, hosted by the Institute for AI International Governance of Tsinghua University (I-AIIG) and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was successfully held online on Thursday.

This was the culmination of a 5-month journey, aimed at encouraging youth from around the world to create innovative AI-based solutions to address real-world development challenges and help advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Today’s young people are standing at the forefront of the future of AI development, and they are the torchbearers for advancing progress towards the SDGs with AI,” said Wang Hongwei, Vice President of Tsinghua university in his opening remarks.   “The U&AI Bootcamp is not only an important hub for fostering creativity and innovation, but also serves as an international exchange platform to realize the Sustainable Development Goals with solutions developed by pooling collective wisdom.”

“Technologies like Artificial Intelligence - if deployed responsibly - offer us the chance to respond to challenges in new and unexpected ways. It gives us the opportunity to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals,” remarked Beate Trankmann, Resident Representative of UNDP China, “But we must also be mindful of AI’s risks. Without proper oversight and ethical guidance, AI could widen existing societal divides and worsen biases.”

This year, U&AI Camp had over 2,500 youth participants from 35 countries. Over the course of five months, these participants gained new knowledge and insights from 33 enlightening masterclasses delivered by renowned professionals from AI-related fields, and engaged in consistent online discussion to develop and fine-tune their projects.

14 teams made it to the bootcamp’s final stage, with AI solutions covering a wide range of topics including healthcare for vulnerable groups, reducing food waste, promoting gender equality, responding to climate change, protecting biodiversity, and promoting educational equality.

In the final competition, held online, the presentation and performance of each of the 14 teams were evaluated by a global panel of expert judges on the five criteria of SDG impact, creativity, feasibility, risk management and teamwork. The judge panel included representatives from international organizations, universities, research institutions and the private sector. In addition, the final was also observed by a diverse audience including members from universities, the private sector and media organizations.

Six awards were given: First-place, Second-place, Third-place, Most Market-Ready Proposal, Most Globally Diverse Team, and Most Popular Idea..

IDA, which proposed an online diagnostic platform to provide suggestions and management services for primary care doctors, took first place.

For second-place, there was a tie between two teams: In My Palm, which proposed a mobile platform to promote more sustainable practices in Indonesia’s palm oil industry, and AI-NBS-Platform, an AI-powered nature-based solution to help improve water quality climate. In My Palm also won the Most Globally Diverse award, while AI-NBS-Platform was recognized by judges as the Most Market-Ready Proposal.

Grace, which proposed an AI-based health monitoring system for elderly people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and GREEN BANKer, which aims to support carbon certification and carbon asset trading on university campuses, tied for third place.

Finally, ADAPP, a platform to support people with cognitive impairment, claimed the Most Popular Idea Prize as voted on by audience members.

Award-winning teams will have the opportunity to showcase their proposals at the International AI Cooperation and Governance Forum 2022, which will be held from December 9 to 10 at Tsinghua University.

U&AI Finalist Teams List:

1. IDA

BIAN Tongfei, HAO Xiaoyu, LIU Zijun, LIU Hao, ZHU Hongxu, LI Zirong, GAI Jiahao

2. In My Palm

Kaidi Ru, Charlotte Kimberly Andreassen, Jazmin Rivas Chong, Almira Lavina Sambowo, Allan Okoth

3. AI-NBS-Platform

LI Xiuyuan, MA Yanan, Salman Khan, ZHAO Jing, WANG Feng, ZHANG Mengjie, SUN Yu, Saeed Ibn Idris Yeboah,WANG Yang

4. Grace

WONG Xiaobin, TANG Likai, WANG Zefan, ZHANG Zhu, WANG Yahong, LI Qiongge

5. GREEN BANKer

LIANG Ying, LIU Yi, ZENG Yishan, DENG Haotian, CHEN Yujie, XU Anqi, Alessandro Crivellari

6. ALVOICE

WANG Zonglv, WANG Man, LIU Xinrui, SANG Feiyang, XU Youdong, WU Lingshu, LIU Ze, Roxana Alexandra Liu

7. MRPS Lab

WAN Yuanfang, JIANG Linfeng, CHEN Yuhang, CHEN Wenwen, ZUO Ruyu, DONG Naixi, BAI Jiamei

8. Psycho Actors

CHEN Zhian, DAI Wenjie, GUI Yang, LI Jiaan, LI Mengli, LI Yujie, LONG, Yuqian, LU Yihui, WANG Jiani, YE Xinyan

9. Zero-Carbon Campus

QIN Jun, HAN Ruifeng, LUO Haijing, FANG Yiwen, HUANG Fangyi, SU Xining, ZHONG Hongyi, YANG Xinyan, TANG Haozhe, Garth Douglas Cooper

10. Terra Pika

York Feng, Beryl LI, Boulus SHEHATA, Emma YANG, Jasmine CUI, Rose SHAO

11. Augustern

LIU Juerui, LI Xiaoyang, ZENG Li, MA Chencan, LI Zhenhao, ZENG Qin

12. Hot Spotlight

SHU Zhongsheng, CHANG Sheng, LI Yuxin, WU Guoli, WANG Xinyi, CHANG Chengyu, Ammar Younas

13. ADAPP

HUANG Jingyi, ZHANG Yang, SHI Minghui, ZHENG Zihao, ZHOU Mengmeng, QUAN Xinyi, WAN Xiangxuan, LIANG Yu

14. For First Aid

Winton Qiao, Yazhi Zhang