A TOTAL of 30 projects that stood out at the regional contests in Toronto, Berlin and Stockholm are scheduled to compete at the finals of the Second China (Shenzhen) Innovation & Entrepreneurship International Competition.

The three regional contests are being organized by Bao’an District, which marks the first time that the district has hosted the overseas sessions of the innovation competition. The contests cover the electronic technologies, biological science, new materials, Internet and advanced manufacturing sectors.

A competition orientation activity was held in Bao’an yesterday to welcome international contestants. In addition to keynote speeches introducing the talent policies of Shenzhen and the district, the activity also included the interpretation of competition rules and road-show skills training.

According to the organizers, a total of 490 entries were collected for the preliminary contests. The top 10 winners from each regional contest will attend the final industry competition for the 100,000-yuan (US$15,861) top award.

Pitstop Predictive Maintenance is an Internet project from Canada that won the second prize in the Toronto preliminary contest. “What we do is to predict maintenance for vehicles. We build algorithms that analyze data from vehicles, which can tell you when certain components are going to fail before it happens,” said Shiva Bhardwaj.

For instance, the mobile app attached to the system can send an alert that says when the fuel pump is going to fail. In this case, the driver can push the button to schedule an appointment with the dealership or a mechanic.

“I think the competition is really cool, and it’s great to be here in Shenzhen. One of our suppliers is based here, so it’s a good opportunity to be here for face-to-face negotiations and direct contact,” said Bhardwaj.

He added that while artificial intelligence and algorithms are being applied to autonomous driving, it’s very important that cars can also detect when they need to go to a mechanic.

All Controller was also a finalist in the Internet competition. According to Ahmed Omar, the project’s team leader, it is the world’s first universal controller that works with all systems, including IOS, Android, PC and Mac.

In addition to potential cooperation with Motorola, the team is currently seeking partnership with Tencent for a licensed controller in the Chinese market.

Although it is the first time that he has participated in the competition, Omar thinks there should be more competitions like this. “I think it’s one of those competitions where you can meet new people and interact and learn about different stuff. It’s really a good learning experience,” he said.

For Frank Kischkel, the competition was also an intriguing experience. With a project called “Cancer Therapy Response Test,” his company attended the preliminary contest in Berlin.

“It can improve cancer drug treatment significantly and is basically done on the technology that we have, which is a commercially available diagnostic test. With this project, we would be able to predict the efficacy of all cancer drugs,” he said.

He added that the projects presented in the competition are all very good and competitive, and he is very happy to be in the final round.

Two years ago, his company found a niche market in the diagnostic field and thus had the urge to grow faster. Currently, his company is finding partners who are interested in using their current commercially available technology and also investors who are willing to invest in the future of the technology.

“If we really can incorporate the newest group of drugs into the current test system, it will be a very competitive and unique diagnostic test,” said Kischkel.

As an organizer of the competition, Bao’an District will host the finals of the advanced manufacturing industry and the Internet industry tomorrow.