On January 27, the 11th Chaoyang International Talent Entrepreneurship Conference (ITEC) Innovation Summit was held in Beijing. With the theme of "Gathering International Talents and Building an Innovative Future", the summit involved four major parts: Award Winning Project Exhibition, Global Entrepreneurship Competition Award Ceremony, Government and Enterprise Networking Meeting, and Venture Capital Networking Event.

In recent years, Chaoyang District has continuously improved the ITEC Talent Introduction and Exchange Platform's efficiency and comprehensively expanded the scope of incentive policies and services, in a bid to build itself as an important global talent center and a high-level talent hub. Since its launch in June last year, this year's ITEC has attracted more than 11,000 talents from 73 countries and regions around the world. More than 2,200 projects have signed up for the event, showing a year-on-year increase of 101% and hitting a record high.

It is reported that the ITEC has been held for 11 sessions. Over the past 11 years, it has attracted more than 50,000 entrepreneurs and over 10,000 projects from all over the world. More than 900 projects have been implemented in Beijing through the ITEC, attracting leverage investment of over RMB 30 billion.

Projects with the Grand, First, Second, Third, and Winning Prizes of the Global Entrepreneurship Competition

Focusing on Web 3.0, High-level Internationalization, and Strong Comprehensive Strength

Centering on the development needs and characteristics of the digital economy industry in Chaoyang District, this year's ITEC Global Entrepreneurship Competition took Web 3.0 as the main competition field to set up four major tracks including the infrastructure layer, interactive terminal layer, platform tool layer, and application scenario layer. Moreover, it integrated the resources from leading enterprises, deepened the cooperation between the competition and businesses, and introduced new elements such as the "ITEC BOE Special Competition" and "ITEC NetEase Digital Industry Special Competition". It identified some cutting-edge, original, and pioneering entrepreneurial projects and talent teams.

After three months of preliminary evaluation, semi-finals, and on-site inspections, 150 projects stood out and advanced to the finals. In the finals, 60% of projects held a leading position in their respective industries in terms of technology. Nearly half of the projects had disclosed their financing, with a total financing amount of more than RMB 17 billion.

In the global finale held at the end of November last year, a total of 59 projects won the prizes, including 1 grand prize, 4 first prizes, 8 second prizes, 16 third prizes, and 30 winning prizes, marking a substantial improvement in both the quantity and quality compared with previous sessions.

Providing "Full-cycle" and "Full-chain" Services

Ensuring the Implementation of High-quality Projects

At the summit, implementation contracts were signed between award-winning projects of this year's Global Entrepreneurship Competition and Chaoyang District. The rapid project implementation demonstrates the strong support from Chaoyang District for talents, innovation, and entrepreneurship and reflects the high recognition of these outstanding entrepreneurial projects for the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem of Chaoyang. It further showcases the increasing attractiveness of Chaoyang District to global entrepreneurs.

To effectively foster the implementation of outstanding innovation and entrepreneurship projects, two parts including the Government and Enterprise Networking Meeting as well as the Venture Capital Networking Event were set up at the summit. It gathered various resources from industry departments, leading enterprises, and venture capital institutions and actively coordinated the policies, investment, and financing for award-winning projects to provide solid support for their implementation and development in Chaoyang District.

Creating a First-class Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

Facilitating the High-quality Development of Chaoyang District

At the summit, the ITEC Innovation and Entrepreneurship Park was officially presented. The ITEC Innovation and Entrepreneurship Park covers an area of 6,066 square meters, with the ITEC Innovation Center and the permanent venue for the ITEC. It is an international talent entrepreneurship service integration platform that encompasses four major functions including exhibition and exchanges, enterprise empowerment, talent cultivation, and achievement transformation. It aims to provide more comprehensive, thoughtful, and convenient services for outstanding projects of the ITEC.

In the future, the ITEC's innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem matrix will collaborate with high-quality talent communities, the International Talent One-stop Service Platform, "Phoenix Academy", the International Venture Capital Cluster, and national-level human resources service industrial parks to create a world-class, livable, and business-friendly environment for talent development as well as innovation and entrepreneurship in Chaoyang District for global talent attraction.

(Source: WeChat Official Account of Beijing Chaoyang High-level Talents Service Center)