A total of 135 projects that stood out at the regional contests in nine cities in eight countries will participate in the finals of the Second China (Shenzhen) Innovation & Entrepreneurship International Competition to be held next week in the city, according to its organizer, the Shenzhen Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.
Among them, 45 projects will attend the final of the profession contest to be held next Monday. The profession contest will take place in Pingshan, Bao’an and Longgang, focusing on artificial intelligence, anti-cancer technologies and IoT. The other 90 projects will participate in the industry contest to be held next Tuesday. The contest covers electronic technologies, biological and life science, new materials, Internet and advanced manufacturing sectors.
Among the winners in the preliminary contests, 70 percent of them are doctorate degree holders, while 73 of them are foreign nationals and 62 are Chinese.
The winners of the two finals will attend the final competition in Longgang District next Thursday for the 1.4-million-yuan (US$222,000) top award, the organizer said yesterday.
The final winners will be awarded at the opening of the Conference on International Exchange of Professionals on April 14 at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.
An important event of the Conference on International Exchange of Professionals, the competition held preliminary contests in March in Boston, Stockholm, Sydney, Toronto, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Silicon Valley and London to attract talents and projects.
More than 1,400 contestants signed up for the preliminary contests this year.
The total prize money for the event increased to 10.91 million yuan from last year’s 9.12 million yuan, which covers the contests from preliminaries to finals.
At the preliminaries, a total of 54 projects were awarded. The projects include 16 in biological and life science, 14 in material and energy saving, nine in advanced manufacturing, eight in Internet and mobile technologies, and seven in electronic science.
Thirty-four venture capital institutions have set up a 20.9-billion-yuan pool to finance outstanding projects in the contest.
Last year’s competition attracted 99 projects for the finals in the city, out of which 11 projects have settled in Shenzhen.