Inno & Entrep Competition for Overseas Talents 2024·Hangzhou

Event Time: February – November 2024

The Competition 2024 features two sessions for the overseas overseas students and foreigners. The Competition is scheduled to start in February with a global call for startup projects or plans. The deadline for entry is May 31, 2024.

1.Qualification Review and Early Project Matching: June, 2024

The Office of the Competition 2024 Organizing Committee will conduct a qualification review for all registered entries. In collaboration with the supporting authorities, the Office will work with the province’s and the city’s VC associations for staging “the Makers’ Bridge” event.

2. Preliminaries: July – August, 2024

For the foreigners Session, 30-40 entries will be shortlisted for the next round after written comments are given upon the preliminary review (or two rounds of review).

3. Semi-Finals: August – September, 2024

In semi-finals, entries are subject to online review. There will be one single category for the Foreigners Session. Each category will have 15 entries for the finals.

4. The Finals : November, 2024

The owners or representatives of the 15 final candidates will be eligible for the Competition 2024 Finals in Hangzhou, China.

Four projects shall be qualified for the Grand Final.

5. The Grand Final: During the Hangzhou International Human Resources Exchanges and Cooperation Conference

Scheduled to be held during the 2024 Hangzhou International Human Resources Exchanges and Cooperation Conference, the grand final will cover 20 entries, including 12 from the Overseas Students Session, 4 from the Foreigners Session, and 4 from the RWS. It will also be a roadshow in bilingual settings (Chinese and English). The roadshow must be each conducted by two contestants (or less than two), who are required to answer questions from the judges. The first, second, and third prizes will be determined in the light of the roadshow performance.

1. Both individuals and teams are allowed to apply. A team candidate should contain, aside from the owner of the projects, no more than three team members. They are required to appropriately share correlated and complementary academic knowledge on their project and can stay in cooperation for a lone time. As the main contestant, the owner of the project must represent the team at all stages of the event and throughout the commercialization of the project. Failure of the main contestant to attend the Competition will be considered the withdrawal of the project. Special Competition policies, like subsidies or talent selection help, will be granted to projects taking root in Hangzhou once they are eligible for the funding application accordingly.

2. Each contestant, either as an individual or a team candidate, is allowed to submit only ONE project.

3. No change is allowed during the Competition once the contestants and their registered project have been approved.

4. Product or service proposed in the project entry can either be an invention or technological patent in which the contestants are involved or authorized. It can also be a concept likely to be materialized. The entry shall be in alignment with our city’s development strategy, and shall fall under the category of either high-tech or strategic emerging industry. It must be technologically advanced. Core member(s) of a team candidate should legally be in possession of the intellectual property rights or be authorized to use it.

5. Each contestant should have a complete and detailed business plan that, based on all-out market surveys, can probably allow the project to gain a foothold in the market. It should be an account of any technology applied, market prospects, business strategies and funding request, and contain a description of all team members and a future development plan with clear business models.

6. Project entries in semi-finals shall appear in at least one business matchmaking session of the Competition.

We offer altogether ONE First Prize (200,000 RMB), SEVEN Second Prizes (100,000 RMB), TWELVE Third Prizes (50,000 RMB) and several Winning Prizes (20,000 RMB).