The MOST, the Central Committee of the CPC Youth League, the People’s Government of Sichuan Province and the South Korean Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning jointly sponsored the 1st China-Korea Innovation and Entrepreneurship Contest for Young People on June 24 at the Jingrong Start-up Hub. The contest aimed to implement the important consensuses reached during Premier Li Keqiang’s meeting last year with South Korean President Park Geun-hye to strengthen bilateral cooperation in their pursuit of innovative development, encourage young Chinese and Koreans to seek innovation and start their own business, and expedite the construction of China-Korea Innovation & Entrepreneurship Park. The contest was jointly organized by the Torch High Technology Industry Development Center, China Youth Center for International Exchange, Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province, Municipal Government of Chengdu and Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency, and co-organized by the Administrative Committee of Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Science and Technology Bureau of Chengdu and the Seoul Center for Creative Economy and Innovation.

The contest was themed on “China-South Korea Cooperation for Innovation and Entrepreneurship”.  Over 500 people from 16 participating teams, venture capital investors, business incubator operators, maker space operators as well as corporate representatives took part in the event.
The contest focused on start-ups and talent exchange and cooperation. After fierce competition, RAONics from South Korea and TestBird from Chengdu, China were awarded the first prize; three companies, including ESTBIKE from South Korea, were honored with the second prize; five companies, including Zhong Hui Powerise Wireless Power Technology Ltd., were granted the third prize; six companies, including VV3C from Hangzhou, China, received the outstanding prize. In addition, 100 public juries voted to grant the prize of the most popular start-ups to RAONics from South Korea and XGIMI from Chengdu, China.

In order to bring those projects and enterprises into the park and provide financial support and platform services to them, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone will contact the participating teams and providing start-ups with convenient business-starting and living services. In addition, the zone will roll out favorable policies on housing subsidies, start-up capital, talent introduction, investment & financing services, and public service platform to support individual Koreans, enterprises and institutions to open new businesses in the zone.

On the sidelines of the contest, Xu Jianpei,Secretary General of MOST, met with Oh Tae-sok, saying Chinese departments were committed to building a platform to facilitate business cooperation and innovation between scientists, technicians and enterprises from China and South Korea, and he hoped both sides can strengthen communications and contact with each other. Oh Tae-sok said the contest marked an important step to advance bilateral cooperation in innovation and entrepreneurship, and he hoped the contest and other similar activities will enable more young Koreans to understand China and Chengdu and make greater contribution to reciprocal cooperation between the two countries.