Team:GreatBay SZ/Public Engagement
Questionnaire Facing the Public
Purpose
We conducted a survey facing the local public at the preliminary stage, aiming at acquiring significant questions and advice from the product's potential consumers and helping the team further explore product positioning in the market, possible enhancement on our battery's performance, and future product usages. The study targets people spanning across various ages, residential areas, and educational levels to obtain a comprehensive perspective of how people of different experiences and eyesights view our project.
Analysis
As the analysis of basic information presents, we have a valid questionnaire, but with small sample size, and the anticipated error may be huge.
In the section about the public's cognition of the Internet of Things (IoT), 96.71% of people think that IoT is of considerable significance, but a small minority of people still oppose the new technology. A possible reason might be that in the introduction, we mention some malpractice-- IoT users may have unsecured privacy.
Within the fields where IoT can be applied, people generally have higher acceptance toward Home Automation (65.02%), Intelligent Medical treatment (63.92%), Intelligent Transportation (62.82%), and Intelligent City (61.54%). Referred to the data, we can tell that people prefer the application of IoT in public service and public management and they have a certain level of acknowledging and expectation.
When investigating which of the environmental energy harvesting technology has the least restriction, 52.01% of the population choose "solar power," "the moisture in the air" follows as the second (14.47%). However, the preference for solar power is distinct. Solar power is not stable and is easily affected by light intensity and all the other climate alternation. The misunderstanding of environmental energy harvesting technology is probably due to the lack of professional knowledge. Therefore, if we expect a more substantial market quota, a specific popularization is required.
The "Products" section reflects the public's perspective in the face of our products. This part of the content gives us realistic suggestions and views, which can guide our technical improvement in the future.
In the survey report about using protein nanowires, 91.45% of consumers (respondents) have a positive attitude towards environmentally friendly materials. However, when we mentioned that the bacteria produce it, we found that a third of people hold a conservative attitude towards modified bacteria's industrial safety and the sustainability of the new technology. Therefore, more complementary introductions are needed to reduce their doubts and antipathy. In the bar chart of other factors influencing consumer decisions, "price" was the most frequently mentioned factor. If the protein nanowire is to be mass-produced and sold in the future, the price is the factor most likely to be considered by the manufacturer. Power, convenience, the pressure imposed on the environment and the performance will also directly affect the customer's choice of protein nanowires.
Besides, 76% of the people who bolster the government to use new power generation technology based on humidity on a large scale indicates that most people accept the latest technology under the government's leadership, showing that authoritative certification and propaganda are necessary for our future promotion.
In conclusion, an overwhelming number of consumers hold a positive attitude toward our products, but some concerns still exist. When we promote the products, we should emphasize that our products are safe and environmentally friendly, and make some certain popularization of science to the public. Additionally, price and power are also important factors determining whether consumers will buy our products, which are paid more attention to in our wet lab section.
Official Account on WeChat
Brief Introduction
To convey our ideas about the project, we created an blog in WeChat. Through the WeChat, we can reach a larger population to let them learn about our project and synthetic biology as a whole.
What does this official account do?
We have issued several articles like journals to update the activity of GreatBay_SZ, enabling the public to know about what we are doing in time. For example, the experience of which we have attended 2020 the 14th International Internet of Things Exhibition-Shenzhen and also Southern China Regional Meeting, not only recording the events that we have participated but also present our efforts in diving into and improving our technology. What’s more, there is an introduction to our technology, explaining how we can achieve our goals through synthetic biological methods and the progress telling where we are at, for instance, the results of electrical measurements and our next steps. There are also several questionnaires we designed to better work on our project. For example, Business Plan and questionnaire on the application of wet power generation technology in the “Internet of Things” market, which intends to seek for suggestions from the public and also the professionals on how to popularize our products in the market due to its promising potential; there is also survey which is designed to learn about the public’s opinions about “internet of things” and their expectations on our products. This is a process where we can listen to the public, get closer to public needs and concerns, and then incorporate valuable information into our research. Thus we can achieve mutual benefits.
What does it bring to the public?
Through the journals we have issued, the population can keep track of the progress of our project. Avoiding excessively professional terminologies, we use casual and humorous language to clarify our work, to ensure the readers can have good comprehension though they are not specialized in synthetic biology. More population can get into this new field by learning about this competition and the project of teams. They can also express their insights to us, and their views might be adopted into our research, which guarantees that our project is always focused on the realistic problems to serve the public.