Team:NTHU Taiwan/Integrated Human Practices
Biosynthesis QD Survey
Putting the idea of developing a product that can remade cadmium in heavy metal polluted water into quantum dots in mind, we conducted a survey in order to better understand the potential market of this environmentally friendly quantum dots.
Our survey includes the following question:
- As a customer, will you tend to select quantum dots that are produced in a more environmentally friendly way?
- As a customer, will to tend to select products that are produced a a more environmentally friendly way, while the production process may require using genetically engineered organisms?
- As a customer, will to tend to select products that are produced a a more environmentally friendly way, while the production process may require using genetically engineered organisms?
Participants that filled out our survey includes those living in Taiwan, Peru, India, United States, Jordan, Lithuania, France, Germany, and Puerto Rico.> Of all the people filling out the survey, over 88% of the participants indicate that they will tend to select more environmentally friendly quantum dots products, over 85% indicate that they will prefer biosynthesized quantum dots, and 82% believed that they will have better impressions on companies that product environmentally friendly products.
Having those exciting insights from out survey, we further make sure that our biosynthesized quantum dots have enough market potential. Therefore, we moved on to out next process: building our business model.
Survey link:
NTHU Circular Economy Club Interview
With the purpose of better understanding how to build a business model, that can combine both the recycling process of waste cadmium ions and reproduction of biosynthesis quantum dots, we consulted the National Tsing Hua University Circular Economy Club. Inside this club, members do case studies on successful circular economy models and conduct deep investigation into how to build models of these kinds.
We interviewed two of active club members of the NTHU Circular Economy Club. In the interview, the club spotted out some potential problems of our current idea, gave us feedback on how to build a better business model, and provided us suggestions on how to seek for cooperation with the industries. With their help, we business model become more matured, and we also gained better understanding of how to build successful circular economy business models.
Jui-Kuang CHAO（晁瑞光）Interview
After we implemented our product design and business model development, we are curious about whether our product — BioSQUAD — can really help protect Taiwan's environment. We interviewed Jui-Kuang Chao, who is an expert in Taiwan heavy metal pollution issue for opinions.
Chao has been investigating into the heavy metal water and land pollution issue in Taiwan for years. He is an environmental activist, and has tried to raise publics' awareness on the issue in several ways. For years, news about heavy metal water pollution appeared for lots of times. We are curious about why the issue is not yet tackled, as well as if there's any possibility that BioSQUAD can help resolve the problem. Chao concluded our questions in the following two points:
- The lack in proper way to recollect and make better use of the heavy metal in polluted land & water.
- The public is not very aware of the heavy metal pollution issue.
Since many of the heavy metal in polluted water and land still have economical value, many counties and cities have tried to figure out a way to reuse the heavy metal inside polluted land and water, and make products out from it. According to Chao, many of the 'reusing process' create even more severe pollution due to the lack of proper recycling and reproduction process.
Chao mentions that there are more rivers and farmlands in Taiwan that are actually been polluted by heavy metal, while the general public is not really aware of that issue. Chao believes that the reason is that it lacks a way to let the public 'see' how severe the pollution is. During the interview, Chao shared many photos of lands and rivers that are polluted by lead, chromium, and cadmium -- which surprises us all since the land looks very healthy and the water looks totally clear. Chao shares that as an environment activist, it is sometime difficult to persuade the public that heavy metal pollution really is an important issue, since that there isn't any way to let the public see how polluted the land and water is around them directly.
Prof. Hsueh-Shih Chen（陳學仕）Revisited
After Jui-Kuang Chao's interview, we are deeply moved, and we want to find a way to combine our project with raising the publics' awareness on heavy metal pollution issue.
We revisited Prof. Hsueh-Shih Chen, professor in National Tsing Hua University with expertise in quantum dots manufacturing. We asked if there are ways to put our biosynthesized quantum dots into better use. Chen gave us the idea that quantum dots can also be used as a material for water quality examination. He mentioned that one of his Master student had been working on creating quantum dots that can detect heavy metal in polluted water.
Prof. Chen's idea reminded as Chao's hard time on persuading and introducing the public on the severeness of heavy metal pollution in water. If we can engineer out quantum dots into a special device that changes color when high concentration of heavy metal is detected, would that be a way to remind the public of the pollutions around us? Prof. Chen's suggestion and technical support helps us to redirect the usage of our product.
Survey on Public Awareness on Heavy Metal Water Pollution
To further understand the public's current understanding and heavy metal water pollution issue, and in addition to confirm our device of heavy metal pollution detection can really help promote the issue to the public, we conducted a survey.
In the survey, we ask the participants to give a score on how much they think they are aware of the issue in a scale from 1 to 5. The participants gave a score with an average of 3.5 on this question, showing that lots of people actually think they don't know much about this problem. Most of those who thinks they are not very aware of the issue indicates that that's because they didn't see much exposure about heavy metal water pollution on the mass media.
We further ask that will our device, with the function of changing color when high concentration of heavy metal is detect, help on raising the participants' awareness on heavy metal pollution. Surprisingly, we got 100% of the survey's participants indicating that our device can really help on promoting the issue!
Interestingly, when we looked into out survey written by global participants, many of them mention that heavy metal water pollution is also a huge issue in their country. However, little has been done so far to tackle the issue. Those feedback gives us confidence that solving the problem of heavy metal water pollution is not just a challenge for Taiwan, but also for many other countries across different continents. Starting by raising people's awareness on the issue, we can resolve the larger problems little by little.
FOLLOW US
CONTACT US
nthuxigem@gmail.com