China-Britain entrepreneurship competition launched

The China-Britain Entrepreneurship Competition, an initiative aimed to support and encourage new business ventures between China and Britain, was launched on Monday in the University of East Anglia of Britain.

The Competition, now in its 7th year, is supported by governments, universities and businesses in the two countries.

This is the first time for this innovative platform to be inaugurated in Norwich city, east of England, which is welcomed by local university and government officials.

Gramham Creelman OBE, the Sheriff of Norwich, offered warm welcome to the competition on behalf of Norwich government. He said that this event represents a very important way in which the two countries get to know each other better.

"It helps us all understand the way we each think about innovation, both in products and services, and the way we bring these to market," he said.

"China and Britain both have ancient traditions of the veneration of knowledge and the importance of remembering who we are and where we came from," Greelman said.

Guo Dongbo from the science and technology section of the Chinese Embassy in Britain, said that pushing forward the business-university collaboration between China and Britain will bring about great synergy to the mutual benefit.

According to Xiong Yu, senior lecturer in Norwich Business School and director of the competition, this year's Entrepreneurship Challenge competition has been developed by a number of leading universities in Britain and China.

The competition will bring together existing businesses and new student-led start-ups that are looking to develop commercial relationships and exploit market opportunities offered by collaborations between the two countries, said Xiong.

The competition is part of the PMI2 (Prime Minister Initiative II) Connect project, supported by British Council and the Confucius Institute program.

Teams from universities of both countries will be selected for the chance to win a 5,000 pounds (around 8,300 U.S. dollars) cash prize, and an investment opportunity of 250,000 pounds for the best business plans.

Started in 2006, the event has successfully supported 43 projects to be launched in the two countries.

Registration for this year's competition and business proposal submission are set to end on April 14 this year.

Organizers of this competition are: University of East Anglia, Lancaster University, University College London, the University of Edinburgh, China Innovation and Development Association UK, and Tianjin Association for Science and Technology, and Chongqing National Science Park.