The National Finals of the 2023 China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition was held in Chengdu, Sichuan province in southwest China, from December 12 to 14, under the guidance of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Ministry of Finance and three other departments. 

A total of 100 enterprises were shortlisted from the fields of new-generation information technology, biomedicine, high-end equipment manufacturing, new materials, energy conservation and environmental protection, new energy and new energy vehicles for the national finals. Twenty-two of them were awarded the top three prizes.

Contestants at the awarding ceremony of the National Finals of the 2023 China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition. (Photo provided by the organizing committee to S&T Daily)

As a comprehensive sci-tech innovation race, the competition focuses on national strategies and major needs, and highlights key areas of high-tech industries and strategic emerging industries. The aim is to build an enterprise-led and innovation factor-gathering platform that stresses deep integration of industry, academia and research institute. It seeks to promote in-depth integration of the innovation, industrial, capital and talent chains, advance integration and innovation of large, small and medium-sized enterprises, and create a new engine for high-quality industrial development.

Qin Haoyuan, deputy director-general of the department of research commercialization and regional innovation at MOST, said in the opening speech that China has always given priority to strengthening the role of enterprises as major innovation drivers in research activities. The competition provides a state-level platform to advance the commercialization of research results, and promotes a virtuous cycle among science and technology, industry and finance, thus fostering an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit across society. 

"Following its inception in 2012, the China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition has attracted 37 provinces and cities nationwide while initially the number was only five. It has grown from a small event with fewer than 6,000 participating enterprises to a large-scale competition with over 320,000 enterprises," Qin said.

The participating enterprises are classified into two categories, early-stage startups and growth-stage companies. Qiu Yufang, a judge at the competition, told Science and Technology Daily that the companies taking part are more tech-focused, and their research aligns with China's industrial direction. The founders of many of these companies are overseas returnees and PhD holders.

Yangzhou Nanopore New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. attended the competition for the first time and won the second prize for the development of innovative battery materials. Li Xuefa, the founder and CEO, graduated from an American university and worked in the U.S. until 2016. Attracted by China's broad new energy market, and favorable entrepreneurship and business environment, Li returned to China and founded his first company in Jiangsu's Changzhou city in 2018. The company has grown to be a unicorn enterprise. In 2022, he established Yangzhou Nanopore New Materials in Jiangsu's Yangzhou city, which makes lithium battery products with greater safety performance, optimizing energy density and minimizing energy and resource consumption. 

"The competition has pooled talented individuals with the same ambitions nationwide. During this event, we not only established friendship with other contestants, but also found potential partners," Li said.

The China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition has been held for 11 years in many cities. "The competition, to date, has attracted over 100 billion RMB financed by banks and other investors for these enterprises, and facilitated more than 200 participating enterprises to list on the stock market," Qin said.