Chongqing - A fund of three hundred million yuan is waiting for ambitious start-up teams with bold and creative ideas to harvest, as the 2022 Mingyue Lake International Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition kicked off last Friday in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area.

The competition is similar to a venture capital campaign directed by the local administration. The government gives the winning teams all kinds of support totaling 300 million yuan, including favorable policies: 100 million yuan for one special prize winner, 50 million yuan for each first prize winner, 20 million yuan for each second prize winner, and 10 million yuan for each third prize winner. The government will also help coordinate consistent services and promote business cooperation and investment negotiations for the teams during and after the competition, according to the information released by Liangjiang.

A letter of commitment on the competition's website said that all winning teams should promise to "start up their businesses in Liangjiang New Area and won't change the tax obligation in eight years."

Up to May 2022, 42 research institutions along Mingyue Lake, Liangjiang New Area, have incubated 108 companies in total. (Photo/He Pengcheng)

Registering for the competition requires submitting a series of materials, including the project's business plan, business incubation needs, and a questionnaire for the project's landing plan. "The competition committee will form an experts panel which will examine each project based on indexes like entrepreneurial elements, product innovation level, and market prospects, and select the potentially good projects to participate in the final," said Li Jie, Vice Director of Liangjiang New Area Administration Committee.

Last year, a micro-nano additive manufacturing project from the world's top 3D printing company became the special prize winner and took 100 million yuan of support. The company settled in Liangjiang New Area in 2020 and started providing solutions for local and abroad manufacturers. Up to the end of 2021, the company's revenue has shot up to 94 million yuan.

This year, the competition extends to emerging fields like new energy and intelligent connected vehicles, aerospace, and smart power storage, all the critical industrial development focuses of Liangjiang.

Once the register closes, the first and second rounds will be held from August to September. Before November, when the final begins, the committee will simultaneously start field trips and business negotiations for the good teams.