This year’s CSRtech Innovation Summit focused on finding innovative solutions towards three goals: protecting our planet, driving sustainable business, and valuing human wellbeing. The platform allowed startups to engage with established industry players and investors, to whom they pitched their new products, services and technologies targeted at solving these goals. During the summit, OPPO shared its own experience in green product design, which included designs capable of reducing carbon footprint and cutting down on plastic waste, as well as lighter packaging designed. OPPO also introduced its trade-in service as a way of supporting the circular economy and reducing waste.
As a prelude to the summit, three CSRtech innovation and entrepreneurship workshops were held in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. At the Shenzhen workshop, OPPO invited the Youth Programme Officer from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) China office to deliver a keynote speech on innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as Voibook Technology, a tech start-up focusing on accessible design for people with hearing-and-and speech impairments, to talk about their collaboration with OPPO on the City Voice Messenger project.
The summit received a significant number of applications from start-ups worldwide, from which only 12 outstanding start-ups were invited to participate in the pitch process. Among these 12 start-ups, Viobook Technology and SATOR Tech were awarded with the Outstanding Start-up in recognition of their idea. Viobook Technology is an innovative social enterprise dedicated to using AI technology to improve the communication status of hearing-and-speech impaired group. SATOR TECH aims to provide one-stop solutions for companies in the industry of energy, real estate and automobiles, based on self-developed AI and autonomous driving technologies.
Promoting sustainability through industry partnerships
OPPO has a long history of working with partners across the industry, including Orange and Deutsche Telekom, to drive sustainable development. In May 2021, OPPO was among the first companies to join the Eco Rating Initiative established by the leading mobile operators in Europe to assess the environmental performance of mobile phones based on an objective assessment of both life cycle and circular economy indicators. To date, OPPO ranks as one of the most sustainable brands in the initiative based on the durability, recyclability, reparability, climate efficiency, and resource efficiency of its mobile phones.
“As a major force in social development, tech companies not only have responsibilities to deliver innovation in science and technology for commercial gains, but also to address global challenges and issues,” said Scott Zhang, OPPO Vice President of Oversea Sales. “Aligned with our brand mission of ‘Technology for mankind, kindness for the world ‘ OPPO is taking actions to contribute to sustainable development throughout our manufacturing, operations, and product design.”
OPPO’s commitment to corporate social responsibility
Through actions such as environmental protection, youth empowerment, digital inclusiveness, and promoting health and wellbeing, OPPO’s corporate social responsibility – driven by its belief in Virtuous Innovation – is central to all aspects of its operations.
OPPO has integrated sustainable development practices into the whole life cycle of product design and manufacturing. These include improving the level of automation and making energy-saving improvements to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, using recycled materials in product packaging, and establishing a trade-in service to recycle and reuse old cell phones.
Customer health and wellbeing is another long-term concern for OPPO. The OPPO Health Lab cooperates with professional medical institutions and sports colleges to develop innovative health-related software, hardware, and services. OPPO also believes that technology should benefit everyone, designing products with enhanced accessibility and ease of use for the elderly. OPPO Find X3 introduces the innovative feature Color Vision Enhancement, which assists those with Color Vision Deficiency (CVD) to see colour-corrective hues and deeper contrast levels for colour differentiation. Additionally, OPPO actively works with different partners and stakeholders to contribute to sustainable development. For example, OPPO partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to help young entrepreneurs play a more influential role in addressing climate change challenges through technological innovation.
In the future, OPPO will continue to cooperate with different stakeholders to fulfill its social responsibility through technological innovations, building an open, reciprocal, and sustainable future for all.
