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恭賀!! 百川學程電機核心陳佳萱同學，甫獲選為2023 YEF十六位海外代表之一，將獲全額獎助於九月初至美國矽谷參訪，包含國際知名企業、新創聚落、及國際頂尖大學。
為培育青年學子的國際視野、全球競爭力，以及誠信、正直的創業興業精神，自2003年起，時代基金會推出「國際青年創業領袖計畫 (Young Entrepreneurs of the Future – YEF)」。YEF（現更名為Epoch School）是一個跨領域、跨國際、跨自我的學習計畫，鼓勵學子跨校、跨院聯結，經由長達6-10個月的模擬實務學習，其中活動包括: 網路組隊、創業聯誼會、創業新兵戰鬥營、創業投資選秀會、創業課程研習會、國際交流參訪及成果發表會，以試鍊其團隊合作、創新創業精神、執行力及國際網絡能力。在國內是備受推崇的『第二軌』教育計畫。
陳佳萱同學在「嘿疲YOLO乳」團隊擔任隊長，溝通協調包含政大、師大、高師大、輔大、暨南大學等公私立大學菁英學生進行研究、創意發想、原型試驗、與商業計畫提案等活動。團隊提出運用水資源創業構想【續水】，提供給重視ESG價值的工業用水大戶額外的穩定水權，獲得2023年時代基金會未來創業家計畫競賽第一名。
「水庫面積大且成本很高，所以我們提出可以在農田或住家……等零碎的土地上建立小小水庫，安裝蓄水的裝置。」陳佳萱指出，團隊夥伴因為喜歡露營，或許也可以運用露營用地，因此大家開始打電話給1 0 0多家的露營場地業者，得到的市場狀況的確是下雨天大家不會去露營，如此便可以在下雨的時候，搜集露營場地的雨水，然後轉給用水大戶。
但接續的是，從露營地拿到水源，怎麼給工業用水大戶使用的問題，「我們發現中間送水的運輸成本相當高，於是想到換水合約的方式，可以把露營地的水提供給旁邊農地去做使用，原本農地使用水庫的水，就可以直接移轉給工廠，讓工廠直接用原本水庫的管道取得水源。」陳佳萱表示。
曾有帶領系學會和永續社團的經驗，陳佳萱也發現自己很喜歡團隊合作，從其中發現樂趣和成就感，這次創業競賽時所認識的夥伴們，雖然來自不同6所學校組成各有所長的跨域團隊，但過程中大家都相互學習聆聽，讓陳佳萱很喜歡這樣的氛圍與溝通，也希望把這樣的精神帶進大學場域。
「尤其像水資源創業的構想，我們對於走下去也有一些顧慮，像是法規面可能還沒有跟進到我們現在的思維，或是發展下去可能會面臨成本上的阻礙。」對於陳佳萱來說，現階段仍在等待對的契機去實踐，她也還是珍惜學生身分，繼續多元領域的探索準備，就算走錯也能再調整化為經驗，也期望，能號召更多青年一起努力並實踐。
Congratulations!! Chen Chia-Hsuan, major in the Electrical Engineering at Arete Honors Prgram, has recently been selected as one of the sixteen overseas representatives for the 2023 YEF (Young Entrepreneurs of the Future) program. She will receive full sponsorship to visit Silicon Valley in the United States in early September, where she will have the opportunity to engage with internationally renowned companies, startup communities, and top-notch universities.
Since 2003, the Epoch Foundation has been launching the “Young Entrepreneurs of the Future (YEF)” program to cultivate the international perspectives, global competitiveness, integrity, and entrepreneurial spirit of young students. YEF, now known as Epoch School, is a cross-disciplinary, international, and self-discovery learning program that encourages students to collaborate across different schools and institutions. Through a 6-10 month-long simulated practical learning journey, the program includes activities such as online team formation, entrepreneurial gatherings, startup boot camps, entrepreneurial investment showcases, workshops, international exchange visits, and project presentations. These activities aim to challenge their teamwork, innovation and entrepreneurship spirit, execution capabilities, and international networking skills. The program is highly respected as a significant alternative education initiative in Taiwan.
Chen Chia-Hsuan, as the team leader of the “嘿疲YOLO乳” team, has been working with elite students from various public and private universities, including National Chengchi University, National Taiwan Normal University, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Fu Jen Catholic University, and Ji Nan University. They have been engaging in activities such as research, creative ideation, prototyping, and business proposal development. The team proposed an entrepreneurial concept called “WaterContinuum (續水),” which aims to provide additional stable water rights to industrial water users who value ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles. This idea secured the first place in the 2023 Epoch Foundation Future Entrepreneurs Program competition.
Chen Chia-Hsuan explained, “Reservoirs are large and expensive, so we proposed building small reservoirs on fragmented lands such as farmland or residential areas and installing water storage devices.” The team realized that they could collaborate with the camping industry, using camping sites to collect rainwater during rainy days, and then provide the collected rainwater to industrial water users.
However, there was the challenge of transporting water from the camping sites to the industrial users. Chen Chia-Hsuan mentioned, “We found that the transportation cost of delivering water was quite high. So we thought about a water exchange contract, where we could provide the water from camping sites to nearby farmlands. The farmlands could then transfer their water rights to factories, allowing factories to access water directly from the original reservoir pipelines.”
With previous experiences leading departmental associations and sustainability clubs, Chen Chia-Hsuan discovered her passion for teamwork and the satisfaction it brings. Despite the diverse backgrounds of the team members, who come from six different schools, they all learned from each other and fostered a collaborative atmosphere throughout the entrepreneurial competition. Chen Chia-Hsuan hopes to carry this spirit into her university life.
She acknowledges that there are challenges ahead for their water resource entrepreneurship concept, such as potential regulatory hurdles and cost-related obstacles. At this stage, she is awaiting the right opportunity to put her plans into action. She values her student identity and plans to continue exploring diverse fields, even if mistakes occur, turning them into valuable experiences. She also aspires to inspire more young individuals to work hard and bring their ideas to life.