Lab looks to spread science of joy

Combining psychological research, big data, smart hardware, neuroscience and interactive sciences, the Happiness Science Lab of Tsinghua University serves the world's innovative skills by boosting people's mental health and improve their sense of happiness through various projects.

Founded in mid-April, the lab is a subsidiary of Tsinghua Holdings Co Ltd and the world's first business incubator to commercialize achievements in psychology.

The China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services is a platform to showcase the lab's businesses and services, said Su Tana, associate director at the lab.

It has attracted initial investment of 20 million yuan ($3.04 million) and is planning a 200 million yuan foundation to help startups in the business grow. More than 30 projects from China and overseas are currently operational at the lab.

Darma Inc, one of the companies it hosts, has developed a smart cushion that tries to improve users' physical and mental health by monitoring their sitting habits. It helps the users maintain an upright posture and manage their emotions.

In another project, Soso H&C is working to build a brain computer interface. A low-cost headset called Brainno measures the users' brainwaves and helps them relax or train them to be focused with interactive games.

There are also projects to help athletes reduce stress, improve a child's ability to learn languages and evaluate the mental health of pilots.

"Happiness is one of the sources of innovation and entrepreneurship," said Su. "People can be innovative only when they are happy and relaxed."

She said their long-term vision is to help people's sense of happiness grow with economic development.

When the lab chooses projects, it selects those that are technology-intensive, can be used by the public, and can become part of an industry chain.

It encourages upstream and downstream projects to link up, and provides opportunities to let them find each other and cooperate.

Thanks to extensive international exchanges, the Chinese teams are at the same technological level as their overseas peers, said Su. However, the international teams must adjust their measurements so that their projects can be adopted by Chinese users.

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/01/2016 page7)