Yujie is a Product Leader, HCI Researcher, and Serial Entrepreneur working in the hybrid fields of precision health, wearables/AIoT, sustainability, digital phenotyping, and behavior change — taking innovation from ideas/research to commercialization and building products that cultivate empathy, trust, and care.
Yujie is the Founder & CEO of Vocadian. He is an MDE graduate of Harvard University. Before Harvard, Yujie pursued his master’s study in Human-Computer Interaction & Computational Design at MIT focusing on Wearable/Spatial computing and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI).
Yujie previously founded Muser and AiRCAD. He has research experience at MIT Media Lab and Harvard Medical School / Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and extensive professional experience across industries and functions at Philips Healthcare, IKEA Home Smart, FaunaPhotonics, A.P. Moller-Maersk, UISEE Technology, and Bruce Mau Design.
Yujie is a “translational developer” bridging the research-practice gap, advancing knowledge through research, and adding value to people's everyday life through product design and development.
My life in a snapshot
Shape Human Relationships with Machines and the Environment
As a product leader, HCI researcher, and entrepreneur, I deliver transformative ways for how people interact with media such as brain-computer interfaces, wearable devices, self-driving vehicles, data analytics platforms, self-driving vehicles, and responsive environments.
I employ value-driven design engineering methods in conjunction with quantitative and qualitative research, enhancing personal, social, and ecological well-being from the body, city scale to the planetary scale.
A graduate student from Harvard University and MIT, previously at the University of Toronto, I have backgrounds in Human-Computer Interaction and Computational Design and professional experiences across healthcare, mixed reality, smart home IoT, digital farming, supply chain, and autonomous driving industries.
I was a panel speaker at the 2022 SXSW conference and MIT Climate Plug-In Conference. I have peer-reviewed publications in international conferences and journals such as ACM SIGCHI, IEEE BSN, ACADIA, CAADRIA, CDRF, Art Machine, We Robot, and HKIP journal, and my work has been exhibited in various venues including the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum NYC, UABB Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, and MIT Museum.
Yujie Wang on ResearchGate
Yujie Wang on Google Scholar
SPEAKING & PITCHING [Entrepreneurship]
— 2024 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition ACCELERATE, 1st Place Grand Prize Winner
— 2024 The 'Future of Capitalism' Startup Competition, hosted by Leo Lion Foundation, Global Runner-Up
— 2024 Harvard President's Innovation Challenge, Top 5 Finalist (Open Track)
— 2023 Allston Venture Fund, backed exclusively by six funds: Bain Capital, General Catalyst, Polaris Partners, Highland Capital, Underscore VC, and GETTYLAB. Pre-Seed Fund Recipient
— 2023 MIT CSAIL + Imagination in Action: AI Frontier & Implications Symposium, Invited Startup Pitch
— 2023 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Launch Competition, Finalist: Vocadian (Top 8)
— 2023 Harvard HealthLab Pitch Competition, Grand Prize Winner
— 2023 Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge, Semi-Finalist
— 2022 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition, Finalist: SleePro
— 2023 NfX MIT FAST Competition (hosted by NfX Capital), MIT shortlist
— MIT’s Momentum Startup Accelerator Summer 2023 Cohort
— 2023 MBA Fund’s pitch competition (hosted by MBA Fund), Finalist
— 2023 MIT Sloan Healthcare Innovation Prize, Semi-finalist
— 2022 Snoozapalooza Sleep Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition Finalist (hosted by Supermoon Capital, the partner of choice for entrepreneurs in the sleep market)
— McKinsey Health Tech Network
— Harvard HealthLab Accelerator (H2L), 2022 inaugural cohort
— MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund, since Spring ‘23
— Harvard Innovation Labs venture, Fall '22 Cohort
— MIT AI & Web3: Venture Studio Demo Day, 2022 Fall
SPEAKING [HCI/BCI + Design + Sustainability]
— Panelist Speaker, "The Fact and Fiction of Brain Computer Interfaces", SXSW 2022, with Afshin Mehin from Card79, Dr. Sergey Stavisky from Stanford University, and Nastasha Tan from Aurora (Mar. 2022)
— Panel Speaker, MIT Climate Conference "Educate Future Generations of Leaders, Problem Solvers, and Citizens", https://climate.mit.edu/plugin, MIT Climate Nucleus (May 9, 2022)
— Podcast Guest, EP 3. Yujie Wang: Developing Wearable Technologies, TMIL Podcast by Isaac Sean
— Speaker, "Empathic Smelling of Animals in Mixed Reality Perspective-Taking Game", MIT Osmocosm Conference on Machine Olfaction, MIT Center of Bits and Atoms and Osmocosm Foundation (Oct. 2021)
— Keynote Speaker, "Design in the New Normal", Forethought India Conference by The Trevi, India's Largest webinar in Architecture and Planning with a total of 880 attendees (May 2021)
— "Policy Interventions on Migrant Workers’ Resilience Against Public Health Crisis", Honorable Mention of International Public Policy on SDGs Case Competition, Tsinghua University SPPM (Aug. 2020)
— Guest Speaker, "Case-based Application of Design-Thinking Methodologies in the Development Sector", delivered to 40 master students, Jindal Centre for the Global South, New Delhi, India (Jun. 2020)
PRESS COVERAGE
2022 SXSW Conference speaker: The Fact or Fiction of Brain Computer Interfaces
“The Fact or Fiction of Brain-Computer Interfaces” panel: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2022/events/PP117262
The future of BCI technology: https://card79.com/2022/03/24/card79-brings-brain-computer-interfaces-to-sxsw/
Neurotech Business Report: from technology to commercial products by Dr. Sharena Rice (volume twenty two | number three | march 2022): pdf download
Panel Speaker at MIT Climate Conference "Educate Future Generations of Leaders, Problem Solvers, and Citizens", https://climate.mit.edu/plugin
MIT News feature - MIT Climate “Plug-In” highlights first year of progress on MIT’s climate plan, https://news.mit.edu/2022/climate-plug-progress-mit-plan-0512
MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative Newsletter - 4.s23 Biodiversity and Cities: a Perspective for Colombian Cities, https://mailchi.mp/mit/mit-environment-sustainability-weekly-4885422?e=8f3a75e842
21st annual MIT IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge supports students leading social innovation， https://news.mit.edu/2022/mit-ideas-social-innovation-challenge-0523
2022 IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge, https://mailchi.mp/0dda37678c7e/mit-ideas-april-newsletter?e=c77b50b34
“Metaverse is coming. Is the architect's identity going to be corrected? Or changed?“ by CAA LAB (2021)
AWARDS at MIT [Computing + Entrepreneurship + Innovation + Hackathons]
— Finalist (SleePro, 15 out of 80+ MIT teams), 2022 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition
— Finalist (5 out of 40), 2022 Google - MIT Product Hack, Olika: News Diversity, MIT Sloan School of Management + Google
— SERC Scholar (Social & Ethical Computing), MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, 2022 Spring Cohort
— Shortlisted Finalist (6 out of 334), BATOPIA: Empathic Listening, 2022 S+T+ARTS Repairing the Present Challenge Fellowship
— Winner, 2021 ETH InCube Global Innovation Challenge, ETH Entrepreneur Club, Zurich, Switzerland
— MIT DesignX 2021 Winner, AiRCAD: Reality-Aided Design using Hand Tracking for 3D Modeling, MIT DesignX
— MIT IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge 2020 Cohort, Muser: Wearable-enabled Music Therapy, MIT PKG
— MIT 2019-2020 Sandbox Innovation Fund Grantee, Muser: Wearable-enabled Music Therapy, MIT Sandbox
— iF Design Talent Award 2020, Medical Supply Chain, iF International Forum Design GmbH (Apr. 2020)
— 1st Place Winner, 2019 MIT Tech for Truth Hackathon, MIT Innovation Initiative + Lockheed Martin Corp.
— Shortlisted Finalist, 2020 Lexus Design Award, Lexus Design Award 2020 Secretariat Office
— Finalist, 2019 Berklee Music and Health Hackathon, Music and Health Institute + MilliporeSigma + MIT Hacking Medicine
— MIT Department of Architecture Graduate Fellowship (Sept. 2019)
EXHIBITIONS [Game + Wearables + Environmental Sensing + Infrastructure]
— "Memory Miner" exhibited at "Unbounded: Transmedia Storytelling" by MIT Transmedia Storytelling Initiative & MIT Center of Advanced Virtuality, Wiesner Art Gallery, Boston
—2019 UABB Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture “Urban Interactions”exhibition “Eyes of the City” section. (2019 - Mar. 2020) Link: www.eyesofthecity.net/internet-of-breaths
"Internet of Breaths (IoB): Combating Air Pollution"—leverages on environmental sensing to mitigate air pollution in urban environments with smart air masks for the public and government
— Project Lead, "VHelp: Voice-Haptic Interface for Visually Impaired People," MIT Museum (Apr.- Sept. 2019)
— Speaker and Designer, "Jet Stream Catcher • Future Energy Mobility" project selected as part of Reimagining Mobility Exhibition, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York City (Dec. 2018 - Apr. 2019)
—Leading Designer, "THE MUSCLE", 2018 CYBORG FUTURES Exhibition, Shanghai (Jun.-Sept. 2018)
COMPETITIONS [Product/ Service + Architecture/ City + Engineering]
—Finalist, IDEO China Young Talent Program Data and Technology Challenge, IDEO Shanghai
—1st Place Winner, ShareON Design Hackathon–Food Waste, IBM + PwC + Ontario Ministry of Finance (Nov. 2017)
—Finalist, People-Centric Mobility Design Hackathon, MIT Media Lab City Science Group (Sept. 2018)
—Director's Choice Award, DMZ Underground Bath House Competition, Arch Out Loud (Mar. 2017)
—Finalist (North America Region), Cities for Our Future Challenge, RICS + UNESCO UKNC (Jun. 2018)
—Honourable Mention (top 11), Cybernetic Framework Architectural Design Competition, gURROO (Jul. 2017)
—Honourable Mention (top 14), Post-Fossil City Contest, Urban Futures Studio / Utrecht University (Mar. 2017)
—Senior Arduino Design ranked 8th, University of Toronto Engineering Competition (Jan. 2017)
—Champion in load-weight ratio, University of Toronto Bridge Design Competition (Mar. 2016)
—Sustainable Design Lead, Solar Decathlon Team Toronto, Global Solar Decathlon Finalist (2015 – 2017)
—U of T ranked 4th/8th overall, 2016/2017 Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition, EERI (Apr. 2016/2017)