The Intel Cup Undergraduate Electronic Design Contest- Embedded System Design Invitation Contest is jointly hosted by the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education and the Personnel Education Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; organized by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and Shanghai Jiaotong University; and co-organized by Intel. The competition aims to encourage improvement of the curriculum structure and content in the disciplines of Information Technology and Electronics, promote implementation of well-rounded education within higher education institutions, and to foster innovation skills amongst students.
With direct supervision from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Competition Organizing Committee, with eager participation of higher institutions, with strong support from Intel Corporation, and with extensive help from various sectors of society, ESDC has improved and advanced through the six competitions held, influencing many higher institutions. Up to 2012, ESDC attracted approximately 3000 students of 900 contestant teams from 80 worldwide institutions and benefited tens of thousands of students.
The Embedded System Contest has risen to an influential Undergraduate technology competition. In 2012 ESDC includes 160 teams from 76 institutions of 12 countries and regions, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Mexico, Costa Rico, Argentina, Brazil, the United States of America, and Russia.
The contest follows the method of open problem proposal, and invites top universities to participate. It will invite undergraduate teams of three members (with a faculty mentor) to design, implement, and document a working prototype based on the assigned platforms. Designs can apply to any device that could be used in a real-world application, such as in the home, automobile, medical, industrial, or other industries. The student team has 4 month to complete their self-assigned project from March to June.