Th e China International College Students ’ “ Internet+ ” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition has been held annually since 2015. 39.83 million college students comprising 9.43 million teams from five continents, 100 countries, and thousands of universities around the world have participated. This year marks the 9th event. We cordially invite outstanding young entrepreneurs engaged in innovation and entrepreneurship worldwide to join in this annual event, where participants strive to achieve their professional aspirations and build a better future for the world.

I. Entry Requirements

1. Projects should address social needs, create new products and business models, and promote the transformation of key industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, health, energy, and environmental protection. They should also facilitate the integration of digital technology with education, medical care, transport, finance, and cultural exchange. For further guidance, please contact the Chinese host university or the Competition's overseas partners on project specifics.

2. Projects must be ethical, legal, and free of any content that violates Chinese laws or regulations. All inventions, patented technologies, and resources involved must have the attendant legal intellectual property rights and proprietary rights. Entrants who submit plagiarized or pirated entries will be disqualified from the competition, forfeit any awards received, and shall bear all legal liabilities.

3. Entrants must choose the proper category for submitting their projects. The participating teams must truthfully fill out and submit entry materials in the registration system in a timely manner. Projects that have won the Gold or Silver Awards in previous sessions of this Competition are not eligible for submission.

4. E ntrants must be under 35 years old (born after March 1, 1988).

II. How to Participate

The Competition only accepts team entries. All entrants shall join teams of 2 to 15 members (team leader included). A team may be formed by members from more than one college. All entrants shall be essential members of the team.

Entrants shall be students who are currently enrolled at a foreign college or those who have graduated within the past 5 years ( graduated after 201 8 , the same below ). The application shall be submitted by the team leader. A team shall represent only one foreign college where the team leader is currently enrolled or has graduated from. In this case, foreign college refers to a higher education institution or vocational school that is located outside of the People ’ s Republic of China and is qualified to provide tertiary education and award degrees. A student enrolled at a foreign college refers to a student who has registered and studied at a foreign college and is qualified to receive a degree or diploma.

All submissions will be classified into one of the following two categories depending on entrants’ academic status: Undergraduate or Postgraduate. The s ubmissions will be further classified into three sub-categories based on the projects’ business start-up stage: Creativity, Emerging Projects, and Rising Projects. All participating colleges shall instruct entrants to correctly fill out the application and register in the appropriate category.

Requirements for each category are as follows:

1. Undergraduate

(1) Creativity. Projects that:

1. are creative;

2. have mature product prototypes or service models;

3. have not completed business registration or other types of registration on or before May 23, 2023.

The applicant must be the team leader, and the team leader and members must currently be undergraduates or junior college students.

(2) Emerging Projects . Projects that have completed business registration or other types of registration within the past three years (after March 1, 2020).

The applicant must be the team leader, the legal representative of the start-up and a current undergraduate or an undergraduate/junior college student who has graduated within the past 5 years.

(3) Rising Projects. Projects that completed business registration or other types of registration over 3 years ago (prior to March 1, 2020).

The applicant must be the team leader, the legal representative of the start-up and a current undergraduate or an undergraduate/junior college student who has graduated within the past 5 years.

2. Postgraduate

(1) Creativity. Projects that:

1. are creative;

2. have mature product prototypes or service models;

3. have not completed business registration or other types of registration on or before May 23, 2023.

The applicant shall be the team leader, and the team leader shall be a current postgraduate student. The other team members shall currently be postgraduate students or undergraduate/junior college students.

(2) Emerging Projects. Projects that have completed business registration or other types of registration within the past three years (after March 1, 2020).

The applicant must be the team leader, the legal representative of the start-up and a current postgraduate student or a postgraduate student who has graduated within the past 5 years.

(3) Rising Projects. Projects that completed business registration or other types of registration over 3 years ago (prior to March 1, 2020).

The applicant must be the team leader, the legal representative of the start-up and a current postgraduate student or a postgraduate student who has graduated within the past 5 years.

III. Competition Rules

International entries shall be evaluated alongside entries from Mainland China as well as Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions of China, but ranked separately. The Competition will be divided into the following three stages: qualification review, online evaluation, and on-site competition.

1. Qualification review (August 1-15, 2023) . The organizing committee will review the qualifications and integrity of the submitted materials from international entrants.

2. Online evaluation (August 16-31, 2023). Multiple rounds of online evaluation will be performed for the qualified entries. The last round will be the evaluation for the Competition finals.

3. On-site competition (October, 2023). E xceptional projects selected during the evaluation period will participate in the on-site finals. For 1-2 members from each of the finalist teams, the organizing committee will defray airfare (round-trip, economy class only) as well as accommodation and transportation expenses. If participation in the on-site competition is not possible, the final evaluation and defense will be held in the form of an online road show.

IV. Awards

A total of 500 international entries shall be selected for evaluation in the finals. 150 of which shall be shortlisted for the on-site finals, out of which 50 shall receive the Gold Award, while the remaining 100 projects shall receive the Silver Award. The 350 projects failing to qualify for the on-site finals shall receive the Bronze Award.

The organizing committee will present the winners with award certificates. International entries that make it to the championship round will receive a cash award which corresponds to their final designation.

The organizing committee shall present mentors to teams being awarded the Gold Award with an Outstanding Innovation and Entrepreneurship Mentor Award (designated only for the top 5 projects). Participating overseas partners shall receive an International Project Organizing Award.

V. Registration

1. Entrants shall register at https://www.pilcchina.org/ , the official website for the Promotion Association for Global Youth Innovation Leaders Community (PILC). Registration will commence at 0:00 on July 1, 2023 and end at 24:00 on July 31, 2023 (China Standard Time, UTC+8).

2. Entrants shall provide a business plan in PPT format and can also choose whether to provide the plan in Word format or a 1-minute video as supplementary materials. Kindly convert your business plan into PDF format prior to uploading.

3. To facilitate the review, all team members shall submit proof of their academic status or diploma or shareholding before the closing date. Teams with mentors shall also fill out the mentors ’ information in the registration system.

4. In principle, all entry materials and on-site defense shall be in Chinese or English. For other languages, please contact the organizing committee.

VI. Judging Criteria

For detailed information on the Competition ’ s judging rules and criteria, please visit https://cy.ncss.cn or https://www.pilcchina.org/ .

VII. Miscellaneous

The organizing committee of the China International College Students ’ “ Internet+ ” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition reserves the right to make the final interpretation of all terms in this Appendix.

VIII. Contact Us

FAN Zhi

Promotion Association for the Global Youth Innovation Leadership Community (PILC)

Tel: 0086-13581973690

E-mail: info@pilcchina.org

Address: B28, Teli Aosen International Sports and Cultural Center, Chaoyang District, Beijing. Postcode: 100101, China.

QU Chen

Center for Student Services and Development, Ministry of Education of the People ’ s Republic of China

Tel: 0086-10-68352362

E-mail: jybdcw@chsi.com.cn

Address: Tower C3 Jinmao Building, No.18 Xizhimenwai Street, Xicheng District, Beijing. Postcode: 100044, China.

DAN Sumin, XU Fusheng

Office of International Cooperation , Tianjin University

Tel: 0086-22-85356062

E-mail: 9th_irt@tju.edu.cn

Address: No.92 Weijin Road, Nankai District,Tianjin. Postcode: 300072, China.

LIU Kun

General Office, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education of the People ’ s Republic of China

Tel: 0086-10-66097850

E-mail: internetplus@moe.edu.cn

Address: No.37, Damucang Hutong, Xicheng District, Beijing. Postcode: 100816, China

Organizing Committee of the China International College Students ’

“ Internet+ ” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition

May 30, 2023