Pulse Technology & Innovation

• Pre-departure briefing at Dublin Airport
• Overnight flight to Shanghai Pudong International (connection via European hub)
• China Quest Taskbook distributed — pre-arrival tech economy activities

• Arrive Shanghai Pudong — hotel check-in and orientation
• The Bund walking tour: colonial-era European architecture facing the Pudong ultra-modern skyline — a single vantage point spanning 150 years of China's transformation
• Evening Pudong light show — LED skyline choreography, urban spectacle, and civic pride
• Debrief: "Old vs New China — what does the skyline tell us about ambition?"

Learning focus: Old vs New China — interpreting urban landscapes as economic narratives.

• Urban Planning Exhibition Hall: scale models, city masterplanning, and smart city infrastructure
• World Financial Centre (100F observation deck): vertical urbanism and spatial geography
• Tesla / NIO / BYD showroom tour and Auto Museum: comparing China's EV industry with global competitors, supply chain economics
• Maglev train (430 km/h): electromagnetic propulsion, Lenz's Law, and China's transit infrastructure — a physics lesson at speed
• Evening debrief: supply chain, industrial policy, and the EV race

Curriculum links: Geography (urbanisation), Physics (magnetic levitation, Lenz's Law), Business (EV industry, industrial policy).

• Morning: structured exchange with a Shanghai secondary school — peer dialogue on education systems, technology habits, career aspirations, and daily life
• Afternoon: French Concession walking tour — colonial architecture, art deco facades, creative quarter
• Yu Garden: Ming dynasty classical garden design and Old Town bazaar
• Evening reflection: intercultural communication and first-person observation vs media portrayal

Curriculum links: Intercultural communication, History (colonial legacies), LC Chinese (language in context).

• High-speed rail Shanghai → Hangzhou (approx. 45 minutes) — China's HSR network as economic infrastructure
• Alibaba Xixi Campus visit: tour of China's e-commerce giant, logistics operations, and digital ecosystem (Taobao, Alipay, cloud computing)
• Digital-payments scavenger hunt: navigate Hangzhou's cashless city using WeChat Pay — market stalls, restaurants, transport — a live fintech laboratory
• Debrief: what does a cashless society mean for access, privacy, and economic inclusion?

Curriculum links: Business (e-commerce, fintech, platform economics), ICT (digital infrastructure, data flows).

• West Lake (UNESCO World Heritage): cycling the scenic causeways — cultural landscape, classical Chinese aesthetics, and human–environment interaction
• Meijiawu tea village: traditional Longjing green tea production, agricultural heritage, and rural economy
• AI / tech park visit: Hangzhou's emerging technology district, showcasing how a 1,000-year-old city is simultaneously a 21st-century AI hub
• Evening reflection: can tradition and innovation co-exist? Comparing Silicon Valley vs Hangzhou models

Curriculum links: Geography (cultural landscape, UNESCO heritage), Business (tech ecosystem, startup culture, regional economic clusters).

• Fly Hangzhou → Shenzhen (approx. 1.5 hours) — hotel check-in
• Huaqiangbei electronics market: the world's largest components district — 50,000+ shops across 1.5 km²
• Maker Challenge: teams given ¥200 budget to source components and build a working LED circuit — prototype, test, iterate
• Debrief: Shenzhen as the world's hardware capital — how one fishing village became the innovation engine of global electronics in 40 years

Curriculum links: Maker Education, Physics (circuits, Ohm's Law, LEDs), Entrepreneurship (prototyping, iteration, cost control).

• DJI drone workshop at DJI's home city: fly RoboMaster S1 educational robots — real-time coding, path planning, and obstacle avoidance
• SenseTime AI Workshop: computer vision live demo — object detection, image classification, and facial recognition in action
• Structured ethics debate: facial recognition — public safety tool or surveillance instrument? Students argue assigned positions
• Taskbook prompt: "Where do you draw the line between safety and privacy?"

Curriculum links: Computer Science (AI, machine learning, robotics, computer vision), Ethics / Politics & Society (digital rights, surveillance, consent).

• Huawei Smart Ecosystem tour: HarmonyOS, 5G networks, smart manufacturing — China's answer to US tech restrictions and the geopolitics of semiconductors
• BGI Genomics visit OR Shenzhen Science Museum: BGI is the world's largest genome sequencing centre — exploring precision medicine, genetic data, and biotech ethics; or the Science Museum for hands-on STEM exhibits
• Evening reflection: why Shenzhen? Special Economic Zones, Deng Xiaoping's reforms, and the role of policy in innovation ecosystems

Curriculum links: Biology/STEM (genomics, precision medicine, DNA sequencing), ICT (5G, operating systems, cloud), Business (industrial policy, geopolitics).

• Tech Park entrepreneur Q&A panel: meet founders and engineers working in AI, robotics, and deep tech — students submit questions in advance
• Autonomous bus ride through the innovation district: Level 4 self-driving in a real city environment
• Robot Dog demo: interact with Boston Dynamics-style quadruped robotics — discuss real-world applications from logistics to disaster response
• Dafen Oil Painting Village: the world's largest commercial art district — 8,000 artists producing 5 million paintings a year — exploring creativity, labour, and the economics of art in the digital age

Curriculum links: Entrepreneurship (startup culture, founder mindset), AI/Robotics (autonomous systems, real-world deployment), Economics (creative economy, global value chains).

• Morning: group closing reflection circle — each student shares one changed assumption, one unexpected insight, one action they'll take at home
• Taskbook final entry: "What will you build, question, or investigate because of this trip?"
• Transfer to Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport — depart for Dublin

• Arrive Dublin Airport — met by school / parents
• Post-trip impact report sent to school within 10 working days
• TY portfolio certificate and STEM competency summary dispatched to each student