Sharing a stage with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and well-known Chinese talk show host Luyu Chen, the UNNC students, Yue Li and Tianyi Chen, took part in a session on smart cities.
Representing the next generation of China, Yue and Tianyi used technology to illustrate how Shanghai and London might look as a smart cities in 25 years’ time.
Their five-minute introductory interaction with Prince William and Luyu Chen gave way to Sir Tim’s talk on how his idea of the World Wide Web developed and became the WWW we know today, along with his views on the current status and future development of the internet.
The session was part of the three-day GREAT Festival co-organised by the UK Embassy, the China-British Business Council, the British Council and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI). The festival showcases British innovation and creativity in everything from fashion to health, technology, education and entertainment.
It also marks the start of the first-ever Year of Cultural Exchange between the UK and China, which will highlight the very best of UK culture in China and Chinese culture in the UK.
Apart from the students’ presentation, UNNC has supported the festival by coordinating a roadshow in Ningbo with the British Consulate Shanghai, inviting more 30 leading companies and government representatives to participate.
Yue and Tianyi were the only university students to be chosen to take part in the festival in this way, thanks to their good level of English and interest in computer science. Tianyi Chen, a second year computer science student, was excited to meet Prince William, who is the first senior British Royal to visit China since the Queen visited in 1986. She said: "It was very exciting to meet Prince William, I thought he would be very serious, but he was really nice and easygoing. He listened very carefully and occasionally asked me questions about Shanghai. Although I didn't have the chance to do much talk to the audience, I lucky enough to explain our ideas about smart cities to the Prince. I thought I'd be nervous but in fact talking to him was the most relaxed I felt during my entire time on stage!"Sir Tim Berners-Lee's speech was extremely moving. Sir Tim is very energetic and enthusiastic, which encourages me in my study of computer science and my future career. I learnt a lot from the Great Festival of Creativity. Thanks to the University for providing me this opportunity."Yue Li, who is in her third year, said: “It was a great honour to be invited to the prestigious GREAT Festival event and to meet Prince William in person. Smart cities is a hot topic in computer science and I was really excited to present my discipline in the presence of the Prince and before the media. Being with Prince William for several minutes has made Tianyi and I famous on campus, especially when the news went viral on social media. I now have something to tell my grandchild about!” More press information about UNNC is available from Tess Humphrys, communications and marketing officer, UNNC, on +86 574 8818 0940.