A seminar for the 2019 China Returnee Entrepreneurship Contest is held at the Pudong International Talent Hub on June 12. [Photo from Wechat account pdrcfw]

A seminar for the 2019 (5th) China Returnee Entrepreneurship Contest was held at the Pudong International Talent Hub on June 12.

Hosted by the Shanghai Talent Service Center and Pudong New Area Talent Exchange Center, the seminar aims to attract more high-caliber personnel to make the most of their talents in Pudong New Area.

More than 30 outstanding returnees, representatives from incubated enterprises and incubation bases, and officials from talent service-related departments attended the seminar to discuss how to sign up for the contest and how to help returnees start their own businesses.

The annual contest was organized by the Chinese Returned Overseas Scholars Entrepreneur Parks' Alliance under the guidance of several government agencies.

This year, the rematch and the final round are scheduled in September, and registration will end on July 15.

With a focus on cultivating entrepreneurship among overseas returnees, the contest requires all participating teams to have at least one returnee, from either studying or working overseas.

Projects with feasible business models in the high-tech industry and the modern service industry are welcomed at this year’s contest.

The first, second and third place winners will be awarded 100,000 yuan ($14,522.86), 50,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan respectively.

Since its inception in 2015, the contest has attracted 1,667 participating teams who have created many outstanding projects, of which more than 300 reached cooperation agreements.

Among the 121 finalists in the previous four contests, more than 60 projects have received investment worth more than 1.8 billion yuan.

The contest aims to attract more students studying abroad to start careers in China by facilitating the transfer of scientific and technological achievements.

With support from government departments, industry associations, entrepreneurial parks, investment institutions, enterprises and universities, the contest will serve as a platform for entrepreneurship training, project promotion, policy support, incubation financing, market expansion, and docking exchanges.

Wang Haijun, deputy director of the Shanghai Talent Service Center, introduced Shanghai’s strategic deployment plans for talents and services provided by the center.

Wang encouraged enterprises in entrepreneurship parks and industrial parks in Shanghai to seize the opportunity to showcase high-quality projects at the coming contest

As representatives of the contest host, Lang Jing and Ding Weiming gave a brief introduction to the arrangement plan and specific notes for the contest.

Attendees also exchanged views on entrepreneurship issues such as location selection, recruitment, taxation and intellectual property protection.

Attendees exchanges views on issues related to entrepreneurship. [Photo from Wechat account pdrcfw]