From Single Spark to Prairie Ablaze—Exploring New Paradigm to Cultivate Top Innovation Talents postprint

Abstract: At the dawn of the 4th Industrial Revolution, cultivating top innovation talents that innovate “zero-to-one” achievements, and constructing sustainable mechanism for cultivating such talents, is not only a critical task during the China’s national rejuvenation in the world experiencing a level of change unseen in a century, but also the key parameter for centenary or even millennium prosperity of Chinese nation. After over ten years of exploration, Tsien Excellence in Education Program of Tsinghua University (hereafter called “Tsien Class”) has made a single-point breakthrough in this subject. Based on this, nearly after one year of preparation, “Tsien Class” and Shenzhen government jointly founded the Xinstitute of Shenzhen, an institution with the mission of cultivating top innovation talents, which embodies the institutional and cultural advantages of China. We believe that, following this direction for another ten years, we will be able to establish a system, which is initiated in Shenzhen and radiates the whole country, that provides a new paradigm to Higher Education to cultivate top innovation talents.