I-LEAD: A Digital-Intelligence-Powered Ecosystem for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

Generative artificial intelligence and large model agents are revolutionizing the higher education, influencing everything from talent development frameworks and teaching methodologies to knowledge acquisition processes and research paradigms. Meanwhile, in the context of digital transformation and technological innovation, data as a production factor and emerging productive forces are reshaping the requirements and demands for cultivating high-level interdisciplinary engineering talents. This paper draws on the joint educational achievements between Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and Queen Mary University of London, focusing on the coconstruction and sharing of experimental resources, as well as innovation-driven entrepreneurship education. It introduces a digital-intelligence-powered educational platform aimed at fostering internationally-minded, innovative, and outstanding talents. The platform's core philosophy, development strategy, functional modules, and technical framework are detailed. The wide recognition and interest among stakeholders further validate its potential to support the development of a cross-disciplinary, cross-professional, and cross-national ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship education. As a key outcome of the 20th Anniversary Development Conference of Joint Education of our two universities, I-LEAD is a platform designed to cultivate students' comprehensive innovative capabilities. Leveraging large language models (LLMs) and multi-agent technology, we have developed BUPT iMentor, an intelligent agent for innovation and entrepreneurship guidance; and BUPT EnPower, a cultivation assistant for personalized longlife learning. By LLMs with a robust knowledge based augmented generation and fine tuning, this tool effectively addresses common student challenges during innovation & entrepreneurship projects, such as idea generation and validation, access to relevant learning resources. I-LEAD provides comprehensive support, including customized course creation, problem-solving guidance, real-time interactive Q&A, and learning progress monitoring. This empowers students to independently plan their learning journeys and holistically enhance their academic and innovative skills. The effectiveness and practicality of the platform have been validated through a questionnaire survey. Therefore, we are extensively gathering feedback and continuously optimizing the platform's services. The teacher-student collaborative learning represents the future of higher education. This student-centered education system provides a platform for that.