Notice for the International Track of the Fourth China "Internet+" College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition

publish date: 2018-05-03

In order to motivate college students participate to innovation and entrepreneurship, demonstrate the achievements of global universities innovation and entrepreneurship education, and build a platform for social investment resources and local economic development policies to global collegiate innovation and entrepreneurship projects, Ministry of Education of China decided to organize the Fourth China "Internet+" College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (hereinafter referred to as the Competition) from March 2018 to October 2018 with international track as well. Related information is presented as follows:

I. Background Introduction

Since 2015, the Competition has been successfully held for three times. It is the world's largest innovation and entrepreneurship competition. The Competition held in 2017 was attended by 2,241 Chinese universities and colleges including top universities like Tsinghua University and Peking University. More than 1,500,000 college students signed up for the Competition with over 370,000 projects in total. During the competition, more than 800 investors, entrepreneurs and mentors participated in the selection at various levels. Many high-quality projects with innovative advantages and market potential came to the fore from the competition. These projects either get a huge market promotion or attracted faster investment at a higher valuation. Some high-quality projects even become the star companies in their fields. To better serve the development of excellent international entrepreneurial projects, the Competition will encourage a number of provinces, cities, and districts to enhance their support by providing better policies, funds and business operation sites for those potential projects coming to China.

We are inviting outstanding young people worldwide to participate in this event with young Chinese. Today, with the rapid development of human society and technology, we should work together to create a shared destiny of mankind with innovative thinking and entrepreneurial courage.

II. The Procedures for the International Track and the Schedules for the Final.

The International Track adopts a two-level evaluation system: on-line review and on-site final. Bronze projects will be awarded (less than 300) through on-line review from all the signed-up projects.  Then no more than 60 winning projects will be selected to take part in the final competition. In the final, 15 golds  and no more than 45 silvers will be awarded.

The Organizing Committee will cover international travel expenses and the cost of local accommodation for the gold and silver award teams. For the on-site finalists, each team can apply for 1 to 2 people’s travel allowances (no more than CNY15,000 per person), which will be reimbursed according to the actual expenses incurred.

The competition is a public good event with no cash award.

Finalists in the International Track will can participate the following activities:

1."21st Century Maritime Silk Road" series events, including the establishment of the Promotion Association for the Global Youth Innovation Leadership Community, the establishment of the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" Collegiate Alliance, and Principals’ Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education for the Belt and Road Initiative.

2. College Student Makers Show (College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship projects Exhibition). The host, Xiamen University, will arrange dedicate areas for projects exhibition, projects roadshow, investment and financing meeting area,  contract-signing area, meeting and sharing area, creative products experiencing area, etc. Xiamen University would provide as much as they can for the convenience of full participation and open communication.

3. Dialogue between outstanding entrepreneurs and student  entrepreneurs (Report on “Internet+” College-Industry Cooperative Education). Well-known entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, technical experts will be invited to talk with student entrepreneurs. There would be keynote speeches or presentations during the finals, which will focus on themes about industrial development trends, demand for talents in the industry, and collaborative education between industry and colleges etc., aiming at exchange of successful experiences and sharing of  innovation and entrepreneurship to support the growth and development of college students.

4. Bridging event for Outstanding projects and China local governments. In order to encourage outstanding international innovation and entrepreneurship projects to come to China, we would arrange outstanding entries in “entrepreneurship and innovation”, especially those in the International Track, to visit local governments with attractive and clear-cut policies so that more high-tech projects would settle in China,. The projects selected would be those with market potential and great social benefits.  

5. Experiencing  "Passion for China-Southern Fujian " . Participants will be invited to visit Xiamen, a hub city on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and Quanzhou, the starting point for the Ancient Maritime Silk Road, to experience the great achievements of modern China’s Reform and Opening-up and the charming of China’s exceptional traditional culture.

III. Organizations of the Competition

The competition is jointly organized by Ministry of Education, the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, State Intellectual Property Office, Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and the People's Government of Fujian Province. And the competition is hosted by Xiamen University.

The Organizing Committee of the Competition (hereafter referred to as the Organizing Committee) is headed by Chen Baosheng, Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Education, and Tang Dengjie, Governor of Fujian Province. The heads of the departments concerned are members of the Committee and are responsible for the organization and implementation of the Competition.

Expert Committee has been set up for the Competition. Its director is Pan Yunhe, former Executive Vice President of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and its deputy director is Tian Lipu, former Director of the State Intellectual Property Office. The committee are composed of experts from social investment institutions, enterprises in different industries, collegiate sci-tech parks, institutions of higher education and researches. The Expert Committee would evaluate the projects and guides college students in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Discipline and Supervision Committee has been established to supervise the organizers and the host, to ensure justice in evaluation and other related work, to make sure violations of the competition discipline are well taken care.

The International Track is co-organized by the Promotion Association for the Global Youth Innovation Leadership Community and sponsored by Tencent etc.

IV. Requirements for the Entries

The projects are encouraged in the area of applying new information technologies such as Mobile Internet, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet of Things in both economic and social fields. Those projects that could foster new products, new services, new business forms and models are also welcome; Project that could help the transformation and upgrade of industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, energy, and environmental protection are welcome; Projects with application of Internet in social services, innovating new network service models are welcome. In general the Competition welcomes various innovation and entrepreneurship projects, with priority focus on  those that will facilitate the deep integration of the Internet into education, healthcare, transportation, finance and consumption.

All entries for the Competition must be real, positive and legal, with no harmful information. They shall not violate intellectual property rights; all the inventions, patents, resources, etc. involved shall have indubitable legal intellectual property rights or property rights; those who commit plagiarism, misappropriation, provision of false materials, or violation of relevant laws and regulations shall be disqualified upon discovery and they shall bear legal responsibilities themselves.

For entries involving others’ intellectual property rights, a complete legally-binding owner's letter of authorization and patent certificate should be submitted at the time of registration. For projects that have been registered in the Administration for Industry and Commerce, it is necessary to submit to the Organizing Committee such documents as the profile of the company, the information of the legal representatives, the shareholding structure, and the copy of other relevant certificates. Contestants can also provide other relevant credentials for their project, like current financial data, investment obtained and employments promoted.

V. Qualifications for the Contestants

The International Track is composed of two groups – one for unregistered companies and one for registered companies. The specific qualifications are as follows:

1.  Group for Unregistered Companies. Entries for this group should demonstrate creativity and mature product prototypes or service models. Also, entries have not finished business registration in local authority by May 31st, 2018 (the day included, same hereafter). The applicants must be the team leaders and must be currentregistered student in institutions of higher education (including junior college students, undergraduate students, and postgraduate students, but excluding in-service students) officially recognized by the government.

2.  Group for Registered Companies. For entries in this group, they shall have completed their business registration at the local authority  before May 31st, 2018. The applicants should be legal representatives of start-up companies and must either be current registered students in institutions of higher education (including junior colleges, colleges, and postgraduate schools) officially recognized by the government, or graduates who have graduated no more than 5 years (namely those who graduated from junior colleges, colleges, and postgraduate schools after 2013). Any changes of the legal representatives after the announcement of the Competition will not be accepted.

Contestants shall sign up as teams. Inter-college teams are allowed under the condition that they have one main applicant school. Each team shall consist no less than 2 members who have made actual contribution to the project. The projects signed up shall be with being developed and/or operated by the team. Contestants are not allowed to borrow other people’s projects. The projects already awarded gold medals or silver medals in the International Track of the previous China Collegiate “Internet +” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competitions shall not sign up for this year’s competition.

For those contestants with registered companies, their signed-up team members shall hold no less than 1/3 of the company’s total share. 

The cooperative projects by collegiate teachers and students which have their scientific and technological fruits transformed into productivity are not be allowed to participate in the Group for Unregistered Companies.

The equity of the teachers with scientific research achievements can be added to that of the contestants. Their combined equity shall be no less than 50% (in which the contestants shall be no less than 15%) of that company’s total equity.

All cooperative partners are required to verify the contestants’ qualifications.

VI. Requirements for the Partners in the International Track

The International Track is enlisting partners globally, who would be help to promote this competition in their country or region, organize activities, and recommend teams to the Organizing Committee. The partners must be legitimate organizations in their countries or regions, and shall be in an leading position in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship. The partners are more volunteer work and have to take  all the expenditure on their own.

VII. Schedules

1. Registration (April-September). Teams can register on the National College Student Entrepreneurship Service Network (cy.ncss.cn). The registration system opens on April 15th, 2018. and closes at 24:00,  September 10th, 2018.

Note: English is the language adopted for the International track of Competition, including all the documents and the on-site oral defense. And Beijing Time is adopted as the standard time.

2.     Final (Targeting at  mid-late October as for now).

VIII. Evaluation Rules

Evaluation Index for The Projects of Unregistered Companies

Review Items

Review   Contents

Points

Innovation

Project is required to highlight the value   of original creativity, and imitation is not encouraged.

Focus would be the use of Internet   technology, methods and thinking to seek breakthrough and innovation in   sales, research and development, production, logistics, information, human   resources, management and other aspects.

40

Team

Judges would need to understand the   education and work experience, values, specialized fields of all team   members, as well as roles and responsibilities.  and business status .

Judges would need to understand whether the   organizational structure and personnel arrangement of the company are   efficient and effective

Judges would need to understand entrepreneurial   consultants, main investors and shareholdings of the teams.

Judges would need to understand the   relationship between the strategic cooperation partners and the project,   whether the team has the concrete scheme and the potential resources to   realize the breakthrough.

30

Business

In the business model, focus is at the   integrity and feasibility of the design, complete description of the business   model. Reasonable infuriation of    how  profitability is made would   be required.

Judges would evaluate whether how it goes   in the aspects of opportunity identification and utilization, competition and   cooperation strategy, technology foundation, product and/or service design,   capital and personnel requirements, and understanding of existing laws and   regulations.

In the field of research, judges would   evaluate how you perform market research, industry research and technology   search and how you make it first hand. Literature search is not encouraged.   Field research and real operation test are more encouraged.

25

Potential  employment

Judges would evaluate the rationality and   feasibility of the project development strategy and the scale expansion   strategy.

They would also make prediction on whether   the project can bring additional employment opportunities.

5

 

Review Index for The Projects of Registered Companies

Review Items

Review   Contents

Points

Business

In terms of operation performance, judges   would focus on project duration, project operating income, taxation,   sustained profitability and market share, etc..

To examine whether the project can create   healthy business profits, total asset income, net asset income, income growth   and investment and output ratio, by developing appropriate marketing   strategies according to the features of the project.

In terms of growth, judges would focus on   market size and scalability of the targeted market, and whether the project   has feasible plan of human resources, capital, technology and others, to   support high-speed growth in the next 5 years.

In terms of the business model, the focus   is the feasibility, completeness of the project design, and a complete   description of the business model is required as well as the feasibility in   the aspects of opportunity identification and utilization, competition and   cooperation strategy, technology foundation, product and/or service design,   funding and personnel requirements, and existing laws and regulations. In   terms of financing, the focus is

on the financing demand and capital   utilization plan.

40

Team

Judges would need to understand the   education and work experience, values, specialized fields of all team   members, as well as roles and responsibilities.  and business status .

Judges would need to understand whether the   organizational structure and personnel arrangement of the company are   efficient and effective

Judges would need to understand   entrepreneurial consultants, main investors and shareholdings of the teams.

Judges would need to understand the   relationship between the strategic cooperation partners and the project.

30

Innovation

Highlight is on original creativity, and   imitation or copy is not encouraged.

Also focus is at internet thinking and   application in sales, R&D, production, supply chain, information, human   resources, and general management.

Projects combined with the transfer and   transformation of sci-tech achievements are strongly encouraged.

20

Potential   employment

To understand the potential opportunities   of increase employment. The rationality of the development and expansion   strategy, closeness and efficiency of industrial value chains, and other   social benefits.

10

IX. Regulations

1. Intellectual Property Retained by Contestants: Organizers do not claim ownership of your Proposal Submission and Finalist Content. At all times during and after the Competition, Contestants retain any intellectual property rights they may have that are contained in and to their Proposal Submission and Finalist Content. The protection of such intellectual property is the sole responsibility of the Contestant. Contestants should ensure that third parties do not have rights or claims on technologies included in the Contestants’ submissions that could block commercialization. Contestants agree to inform Organizers of the status of any intellectual property filings or searches related to their submissions.

2. Limitations of Liability: To the extent permitted under applicable law, Organizers and Released Parties are not liable for: (1) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by Contestant, printing, typographical or other errors, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Competition; (2) technical failures of any kind, including without limitation, malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines or network hardware or software; (3) unauthorized human intervention in any aspect of the Competition; (4) late, lost, undeliverable, damaged or stolen mail; and (5) any claims by a Contestant that his or her or its submission is similar to or competitive with technologies or products independently developed by Organizers or received by Organizers from third parties, including from other Contestants.

3. Disputes:

a) Except where prohibited, Contestant agrees that: (1) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Competition shall be resolved individually and without resort to any form of class action, (2) any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this Competition, but in no event attorneys’ fees; and (3) under no circumstances will Contestant be permitted to obtain awards for, and Contestant hereby waives all rights to claim, indirect, punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages, other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses. Contestant also hereby waives any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased. 

b) All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the Contestant and Organizers in connection with the Competition, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of China without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules, which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than China.

4. Severability: If the application of any provision of these Official Rules to any particular facts or circumstances shall for any reason be held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable by a court, arbitration panel or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction, then (a) the validity, legality and enforceability of such provision as applied to any other particular facts or circumstances, and the other provisions of these Official Rules, shall not in any way be affected or impaired thereby; and (b) such provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent possible. In addition, if any provision contained in these Official Rules shall for any reason be held to be excessively broad as to duration, geographical scope, activity or subject, it shall be construed by limiting and reducing it, so as to be enforceable to the extent compatible with applicable law. Organizers’ failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.

X. Publicity

To promote the Competition and encourage more college students to participate actively, a Publicity Award is set for the International Track, which is based on creativity and range of publicity, or the number of the teams signed up for the Competition.

XI. The Organizing Committee of the Fourth China "Internet+" College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition reserves the right of final explanation of all the provisions involved in this notice.

XII. Contacts of the Organizing Committee of the Competition

Contact: Huang Xuying

Organization: The Promotion Association for the Global Youth Innovation Leadership Community

Tel.: 0086-15600745333

Email: crystal.xu@pilcchina.org

Add.: Rm. 705, Bldg. A, Qinghua Science and Technology Park, Haidian District, Beijing, China

Postcode: 100080

 

Contact: Shi Jinpeng

Organization: National College Student Information Consultation and Employment Guidance Center

Tel.: 0086-18368806231

Email: shijinpeng@moe.edu.cn

Add.: Zhongkun Square, Dazhong Temple, No.18 (A), Western Section of the North 3rd Ring Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China.

Postcode: 100098

 

Contact: Zhou Meng

Organization: Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, Xiamen University

Tel.: 0086-592-2188729

Email: survor@xmu.edu.cn  

Add.: No.422, Siming South Road, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China

Postcode: 361005

 

Contact: Yang Haolin & Xu Jiaqing

Organization: Office of Science and Engineering, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education

Tel: 0086-10-66096262

Email: yanghaolin@moe.edu.cn

Address: No.37, Damucang Hutong, Xicheng District, Beijing, China

Postcode: 100816