The HICOOL Global Entrepreneur Summit (GES) is an international stage on which entrepreneurs from all over the world showcase their superior products, new projects, and entrepreneurial capabilities.
The 2024 summit in Beijing attracted over 30,000 sci-tech innovators, 1,000 global investors, and 500 high-tech innovation enterprises from 100 countries and regions around the world. Its Global Entrepreneurship Competition (GEC) attracted a record-breaking number of 7,406 startup projects and 9,700 entrepreneurs from 124 countries and regions.
Its headquarters in Beijing’s eastern district of Shunyi has also developed from a single building into a 6.98-square-kilometer industrial park, and attracts international entrepreneurs to Beijing as a result.
According to Wu Yi, vice chairman and secretary general of the Beijing Overseas Talents Association, “HICOOL’s long-term mission is to nurture entrepreneurs.” This year marks the fifth year of HICOOL exploring ways of providing entrepreneurs with comprehensive and in-depth services in areas of government support, industry, academics, research, capital, and practice.
The first HICOOL Global Entrepreneur Summit opens in Beijing on September 12, 2020.
Exploring New Paradigms
During the summit this year, more than 40 keynote speeches were presented and mini-forums and dialogue sessions were conducted around the four themes of future-oriented, new quality life, multi-dimensional creativity, and better life. Focusing on cutting-edge trends such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, brain-computer interface, data governance, and global health and development, experts from various fields explored topics of global innovation ecology and strategic vision.
Xi Ning, chair professor of robotics and automation in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing System at the University of Hong Kong, spoke about a promising future of humans and machines working together. Peter Vesterbacka, founder of Angry Birds, explored the value of innovation.
In addition, a number of stunning cutting-edge technological achievements were unveiled, such as a model of China’s reusable rocket Pallas 1 and a robotherapist that can automatically identify acupuncture points.
“The unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous driving system we developed has the functions of accurately avoiding obstacles and automatic route planning, which solves the pain points of controlling drones in complex environments. It can be used in low-altitude logistics, emergency rescues, and other fields,” said Che Jiaxing, founder of Youlian Zhikong (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.
“There were more than 10 new energy, new materials, and high-end equipment startup companies competing together. We won the second prize in this year’s GEC after fierce competition,” said Che, and then added, “As soon as the roadshow ended, many companies came to discuss prospects of cooperating with us.”
A bionic soft-arm robot gripping a ping-pong ball with ease was exhibited in the display area. “It can also remove the yolk from a raw egg,” said Zhao Xin, founder of Beijing Soft Robot Technology Co., Ltd. He said that his team strives to solve technical difficulties such as high-elastic material modification and complex flexible body molding. It has become an innovative technology enterprise that has broken through key technologies of the whole chain of soft robot production, education, and research in China.
“We won the first prize in the GEC three years ago. Today, the company’s products are exported to more than 20 countries,” Zhao said. He noticed an increase in the number of new achievements in future industries such as artificial intelligence, unmanned driving, and the metaverse at this year’s summit.
“The first GES and GEC were launched in 2020. Over the past five years, innovation and entrepreneurship has grown vigorously and made tremendous accomplishments,” Zhang Ruobing, head of the Beijing Municipal Talent Work Bureau, said. So far, the GEC has given birth to 720 award-winning projects, and incubated 16 unicorn enterprises and 127 enterprises that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products.
New energy vehicles are exhibited at the HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing, on August 23, 2024.
Transforming Beijing
As HICOOL continues to grow with the participation of more entrepreneurs, it is contributing to turning Beijing into an international science and technology innovation center as well as a high-level talent hub. At the same time, it is injecting new vitality and innovation momentum into the global economy.
At the opening ceremony of HICOOL 2024 GES and GEC Awards on August 23, about 200 winners were awarded. “Beijing has the best human resources and scientific research ecology, and attracts investors, scientific manpower, biomedical enterprises, laboratories, and other resources. More importantly, Beijing welcomes entrepreneurs!” said Li Dong, founder of Beijing Nano Insights Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. His team’s project “Intelligent optical microscopy instruments and whole-process solutions” won the first prize this year.
Guan Hongliang, chairman of the Beijing Overseas Talents Association, believes the reason GEC continues to improve is that the government and entrepreneurs are working together to reach this objective. “The government needs good projects and talent to drive economic growth. At the same time, entrepreneurs need all kinds of help and support from the government, while getting in touch with the market and more investors.”
During the past five years, HICOOL has attracted 16,765 projects from 133 countries and regions around the world, matched more than 8,000 projects, served more than 4,000 innovation projects, and implemented more than 290 entrepreneurial projects in Beijing.
Empowering entrepreneurship with science and technology and driving innovation with value, HICOOL helps entrepreneurs and start-ups develop in Beijing by providing multi-dimensional and international entrepreneurship services, management, and fund, and setting up competitions, summits, a business school, an industrial park, and digital platforms.
“For us, the GEC is a springboard to help us operate in Beijing. It gives us access to the top business incubators and various kinds of support from the government. The GEC is actually an entrepreneurial service platform,” said Lai Caida, founder of Hangzhou METiS Pharmaceuticals, who won the first prize at the 2022 HICOOL GEC.
At this year’s GES, HICOOL organized six sections, 20 small forums, and eight roadshows to present the “government support, industry, academics, research, capital, and practice” in one stop, and build a highly integrated entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“The original goal of HICOOL was to attract outstanding overseas entrepreneurial talents to return to China to start their own businesses,” said Tao Ning, chief operating officer of Sinovation Ventures (Beijing) Enterprise Management Ltd. and judge of HICOOL GEC. According to Tao, the characteristics of HICOOL are hi-tech, top intellectuals, and internationality. “The fields covered and the entrepreneurial talents involved during the past five years have increased significantly. More than 100 countries and regions have been covered this year, which is quite amazing,” he said.
A group of attendees at this year’s HICOOL Global Entrepreneurship Competition, which attracted a record number of 7,406 startup projects and 9,700 entrepreneurs from 124 countries and regions.
Increasing Attractiveness
Since 2020, the HICOOL GEC has become an important stage for world-class talents to display their abilities and chase their dreams in Beijing. Beijing is a center of national strategic scientific and technological forces, complete with innovation elements and a vibrant entrepreneurial atmosphere. It also provides a broad space for global talents to make innovation and start a business.
Agile Robots is an intelligent robot start-up company that originated in Munich, Germany. The company won an award during the first HICOOL GEC in 2020. With the support and help of the Beijing municipal and Shunyi district governments, Agile Robots built a modern factory of nearly 5,300 square meters in Shunyi. At present, it has grown from a team of a dozen members to a hi-tech enterprise with more than 900 employees, a corporate value of US $3.5 billion, and annual sales of over RMB 100 million, making it a leader in the field of intelligent robots.
According to Dennis Simon, president of the Alliance of Global Talent Organizations (AGTO), the GES and GEC have become an all-important event for global innovative and entrepreneurial talents. This not only reflects the fact that Beijing is becoming an international talent gathering center, but also shows China’s progress in innovation and economic development.
The 2024 GES attracted 161 global partners and 4,683 overseas projects, an increase of 29 percent compared to the previous competition. Thanks to Beijing’s increasingly ideal business environment, up to now, some 115 international organizations such as the Global Alliance for Trade in Services have opened offices in the city.
At the opening ceremony, HICOOL joined hands with the organizers of world-renowned events and summits such as Viva Technology, Mobile World Congress, and AsiaBerlin Summit to jointly establish a global top entrepreneurship competition alliance. Through cross-border in-depth dialogue and collaboration, it is providing an ever-broader stage and opportunities for global entrepreneurs.
Beijing is an epitome of China. Since 2024, from the comprehensive implementation of the open patent licensing system to the orderly expansion of opening-up in the fields of telecommunications, the Internet, education, culture and medical care, all regions and departments have promoted reform and opening-up. They are creating a market-oriented, law-based, and international business environment, and are cultivating new drivers and advantages for China’s economy. During the first half of the year, the number of newly established foreign-funded enterprises in China increased by 14.2 percent year on year, and the scale of foreign investment attracted was nearly RMB 500 billion.
“Holding the Global Entrepreneurs Summit is in itself a testament to Beijing’s favorable policy environment and innovation ecosystem,” Simon said. He added that the AGTO will establish its Beijing office this year to help build a global innovation and talent gathering center.
Dimitrios Petrotos, an entrepreneur from Greece, said that the disability assistance equipment they developed with exoskeleton technology won the third prize in the GEC. “This year is the fifth time I have come to China and plan to set up a company here,” he said.
Over the past 10 years, Beijing has accelerated its integration into the global innovation system, becoming an important source of international cutting-edge science and technology and an important driver of global industrial transformation. Cultivating the fertile soil for innovation and entrepreneurship, HICOOL has kept pace with the times and advances with the capital.
