Science and innovation entrepreneurs join competition

Ding Yining / SHINE

The Shanghai Circuit of the Preliminary Contest of the Yangtze Delta "JOIN" Sci-Tech Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition kicked off on Friday.

It's the first time the "JOIN" Entrepreneurship Competition includes the Yangtze River Delta region, with a focus on science and innovation, since it was first held 20 years ago.

The competition co-hosted by Fudan University School of Management and Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Institute of Business Innovation has selected a total of 156 teams from more than 250 contestants to enter the preliminary period, which will last till the end of May.

The final competition is scheduled on July 1. A total of 3 million yuan (US$422,535) of cash rewards will be granted to the winners, in addition to scholarships and incubation opportunities.

Cen Ling, head of the science and innovation office at Fudan University's School of Management, introduced the competition's concept to foster startups to become successful entrepreneurs.

A total of 27 startup teams in the biomedicine sector made presentations at AstraZeneca's China Health Innovation Hub (iCampus) on Friday.

The contestants will be divided into five major groups, namely the information technology, biomedicine, advanced manufacturing, new materials and ESG (environmental, social, governance).

Sun Jinyun, associate professor of business administration at Fudan University's School of Management, said the competition is expected to bring a full range of industry players to empower the contestants, including an in-depth training and coaching system for startups, and matchmaking with investment and financing institutions.