The home stretchWe are in the final stage of our study tour and as everyone knows: this is the hardest part. After an epic night of going out in Lan Kwai Fong we could finally lie in. Hong Kong is a relatively small city and thus everything is near each other. Furthermore we had to gather at 9 o'clock. Lovely! Today we only had to visit one company, which is already pretty nice, but what makes it even better, it was the last company of the study tour! Full of courage, but still pretty wasted of the last day we went to the same science park like the day earlier when we visited Convenient Power. We were greeted by the director himself of the company Cypress. The company focuses on the automation of lighting, curtains, doorbells, airco and other affairs in new flats in Hong Kong. They make one of the best intelligent systems which is controllable with among others smart phones and tablets.
Once inside we were also greeted by the sales manager and a girl which function I have forgotten, but seemed very nervous. She probably never received 25 tall Dutch men. With three firm handshakes and just as many business cards we received a tour through the office. The office looked a bit messy and looked more like a R&D space. The R&D space itself was even more messier (and quite small) and therefore looked more like a student room of an average Electrical Engineering student.
A short ten minutes later we were guided out of the office. We thought that this was a short and quite disappointing company visit. However, this wasn't everything. We also got a tour through the park and a pressention. After a group photo which was in front of a quite impressive auditorium (it looked a bit like a gigantic copper egg) we walked to a museum of a Nobel winner who did research in glass fibres and waveguides. Thereafter the director took us to the science park lounge which had a gym and a swimming pool.
We then were guided to a Chinese imitation StarBucks, because the meeting room wasn't ready yet by the time our tour of the park was finished. The cup of coffee we consumed did miracles for the effects of the hangover and about 45 minutes later we went to the meeting room with renewed energy. To our surprise it was exactly the same room we were the day earlier.
The sales manager gave us an impression of what Cypress exactly does with the aid of a test setup and a powerpoint presentation. It was quite funny to see that the manager continued undisturbed his presentation even when the fire alarm went off. With the iPhone and iPad who were passed around the room we could test the system. After an hour (with somewhat technical) questioning and handshaking and giving gifts it was time to go back to the hostel, change clothes and go out for lunch. This was not yet the end of the programme. After getting lots of beer and snackes it was time to go aboard our rented party cruise. What we exactly was not known for everyone, but after a free upgrade a yacht of about 20 metres was waiting for us. After we put our beer in the coolbox we set course to a remote beach. The beach was located directly next an enormous coal power plant, but we didn't care. Wearing our beachwear we dove into the sea together with a bottle of whiskey cola and a camera in a plastic bag. Another Gangnamstyle clip was recorded and we played around with a beach volleyball.
After this break we continued our trip on the boat. At the end of the afternoon we were back in the harbour of Hong Kong to set off to a beach for a barbeque. After some hours, a lot of beer and kilos of meat, we lost only 2700 units (270 euros). That made use even more satisfied and thus we went back the the hostel. There we took a shower to get rid of all the salt and coal. After this some went to bed, others took another beer to prepare ourselfs for the trip to Macau the next day.
Maarten Segers
Over studieproject Lián XìIn het najaar van 2012 is een groep van 24 studenten Elektrotechniek van de Universiteit Twente op een 3-weekse studiereis naar China gegaan. Tijdens deze reis maakten zij kennis met buitenlandse bedrijven, universiteiten en andere instellingen. De reis heeft niet alleen inzicht verschaft in de techniek, maar ook in de cultuur en mensen van in dit intrigerend land. Voor China is gekozen omdat dit land op het moment enorm aan het groeien is. Ze is bezig haar technologische achterstand in rap tempo weg te werken. Hoe het land met deze groeispurt omgaan is intrigerend om met eigen ogen te zien. Er een verschuiving aan het plaatsvinden van productie naar ontwikkeling en onderzoek. Hierdoor is er een breed scala aan disciplines te vinden, van productie tot high-tech onderzoek. Wat voor een inzichtelijke en afwisselendereis heeft gezorgd. ThemaHet thema van de reis is ‘Connecting Technology’, om het sociale en technische aspect van de reis te benadrukken. Verder verwijst het thema naar het vergaande contact wat we met mensen over de hele wereld kunnen hebben door voortgangen in de techniek, zoals het internet en mobiele telefonie. Als we zien hoe snel deze ontwikkeling in de communicatie is gegaan dan staan ons wellicht nog grote veranderingen te wachten in de toekomst. Met alle interessante sociale en technologische uitdagingen die dit met zich mee brengt. Om te zorgen dat de studenten open staan voor deze veranderingen is het goed om aan andere culturen te wennen en de werkwijze van bedrijven in andere landen te leren kennen. Dit zorgt ervoor dat de student later innovatief en creatief aan de slag kan in een steeds verder globaliserende wereld. De wereld in het algemeen en China in het bijzonder zullen in deze turbulente jaren van grote verandering nog veel creativiteit nodig hebben om hun groei vol te kunnen houden. Hier zullen zij ook hulp van buitenaf goed bij kunnen gebruiken. Deze studiereis zal voor de studenten een persoonlijke brug slaan tussen twee werelddelen. Om zo contacten op te doen om later de verschuivingen op technologisch, sociaal en economisch vlak ten volste te kunnen accepteren en benutten. |