Youth entrepreneurs awarded

The curtain has fallen on a recent youth entrepreneurship competition for startup business projects from Beijing and Hong Kong, with four winners named.

The first prize was won by Seengene, a Beijing- based company specializing in artificial intelligence technology, for a smart space search engine project.

Featuring mixed- reality and 5G technologies, the project is designed to enable interaction between the real world and virtual community.

Part of the Beijing- Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium, the competition aims to provide a cooperation platform for young people in the cities. It can motivate their enthusiasm for innovation and entrepreneurship, and promote exchanges, said an official at the administrative committee of Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park.

The event started in May when Hong Kong’s preliminary rounds were held. Hong Kong attracted 194 entries from 13 higher education institutions, including the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Four of them made it to the finals.

Another four finalists were selected out of the more than 200 startup business projects from industries such as AI, big data, the internet of things and pharmaceuticals, which signed up for the Beijing preliminary rounds held in September.

The finals, held at Beijing International Hotel on Nov 20, were broadcast online. Its co- hosts included Zhongguancun Science Park’s administrative committee, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and InvestHK.

Since its inception during the annual Beijing- Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium in 2018, the entrepreneurship competition has been held for three consecutive years. It has been widely acclaimed by the cities’ governments, colleges, capital firms and startup business service providers, organizers said.