Meet the 2009/2010 participants

Name: Zhi Zhang

Background: I come from Tangshan, China. I’m currently a Ph.D. student in iPack VINN Excellence Center at KTH, Sweden. My research is focused on ad hoc connected wireless sensing and identification systems for Internet-of-Things (IoT). It covers the concepts of radio frequency identification (RFID) and wireless sensor network (WSN), and will be widely used in our daily life. My research area has extreme commercial potential, and I have done some system simulation using OMNeT++ and implemented the hardware prototype of sensor nodes.

Why did you apply for this course?
I’m eager to commercialize my research in the near future and hope I could be a successful entrepreneur. This course provides a good opportunity for me to have the knowledge and experience in how to identify and assess the possibilities in commercializing my research and how to write a good business plan.

What have you learned so far that surprised you?
It’s important to use the right tools to evaluate the original idea before writing a business plan.

How do you think this course will help you develop your idea?
This course provides me with useful tools for analyzing and evaluating the commercial potential in an idea or research results from various perspectives, some of which I’m not aware of before. The course will help me to explore the strength and weaknesses of my idea and have some new insights into entrepreneurship after discussing with the participants and teachers.

Would you recommend other to take this course, in that case why?
Yes, definitely! The course is interesting and useful for the ones who want to run their own business from their current research. The course provides the students with many good contacts with mentors, investors and famous professors as well as theory and practice for planning their business in steps.