China Hardware Innovation Camp

Transform your idea into a connected device by working within an interdisciplinary team of students with business, design, and engineering background and travel to China to manufacture it

Important communication regarding the next CHIC edition

Check out the previous CHIC projects

LATEST POSTS

Congratulations!

Hapstick

October 14, 2020

Congratulations to the winners of the Start Lausanne 2020 contest. Looking forward to the next step(s).

CHIC takes a break

September 14, 2020

Third update (January 2023) To our regret, we are still not in a position to resume the CHIC program. We hope to be in a position to re-start the program [...]

Getting ready for Milestone 5

WatchOn

June 21, 2020

Hi all, I hope you're doing well. The WatchOn team is reaching Milestone 5 (24 June) and we are working to get ready for it. In terms of Software, the [...]

CHIC BY NUMBERS:

+150
Members

34
Projects

6
Editions

11
Institutions

FEATURED PROJECTS

Flowlin

A smart object that makes it easy to stay focused at work by preventing interruptions from coworkers and apps

EPFL, ECAL, UNIL

2017 - 2018

Tengo

Joy is spontaneous. Our product has it and rents it, whenever you want at the place where you need it the most.

EPFL, ECAL, UNIL

2018 - 2019

Tolbi

We solve the problem of wasting farmers’ water to optimize their resources and improve their performance. Our team [...]

ESP

2018 - 2019

Discover all projects

AT CHIC, YOU EXPERIMENT

To collaborate in a cross functional team

To build a product that people want

That no manufacturing plan survives the first contact with factories

That failure is a necessary path to success

That communication and culture are inseparable

To manage a project across geographical and cultural boundaries

That innovation starts and ends with people

A lot of things about yourself

Learn more about the program

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By attending CHIC, I learned so many things about the industry and the world of start-ups, but also about myself and the way I wish to be working in the future. I created amazing bonds with people from diverse fields in a way that would never have been possible without this experience.
Manon Membrez - Team Todoo - CHIC 2016-2017

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I have discovered a new world and a range of exciting jobs that seemed either unreachable or that I had never imagined before CHIC
Florian Lemarignier - Team FiMi - CHIC 2014-2015

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CHIC is a take off to a new land of opportunities where design meets innovation.
Elise Migraine - Team Livelo - CHIC 2016-2017

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It starts with an idea lying on paper but after one semester only you and your team built a prototype ready to be pitched in front of investors in China.
Mikhail Vorobiev - Team Okeep - CHIC 2015-2016

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I wish every day could be as full of learning, challenge and fun as a day with CHIC
Florian Lemarignier - Team FiMi - CHIC 2014-2015

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CHIC teaches you to keep an open mind and expect the unexpected
Jean-Baptiste - Team Aimo - CHIC 2015-2016

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CHIC is not only a great opportunity to practice and learn technical competencies, but also a really rewarding human experience where different people from different background become a team.
Lucie Houel - Team Todoo - CHIC 2016-2017

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You can experience things during CHIC that you would never be able to do in conventional educational settings.
Chenyue Xu - Team Hibachi - CHIC 2015-2016

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Pitching and networking during CHIC help you exercise your soft skills and urge you to build a solid story for your product that you will use to influence people's response to it
Adrien Born - Team Okeep - CHIC 2015-2016

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CHIC is absolutely a fantastic experience for me. I learned much more than I expected, from technology to start-ups incubation, commercialisation, and even some manufacturing procedures... Also, we became good friends."
Ziyu Zhao - Team Dory - CHIC 2014-2015

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CHIC is not only a semester project: it is a human and cultural experience
Dina Elikan - Team Vesta - CHIC 2014-2015

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CHIC has been a unique experience, giving me the opportunity to take away more than just a grade from a project at EPFL.
Florian Maushart - Team Fimi - CHIC 2014-2015

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CHIC was a combination of a large number of discoveries, making contacts, knowledge sharing, an extraordinary teamwork facing a number of surprises and obstacles. In short : challenging! I couldn’t have asked for a better experience at this stage of my studies!
Mélanie Zufferey - Team Dory - CHIC 2014-2015