An opening ceremony of the 2024 Songhu Cup Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was held Thursday in Songshan Lake International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Community, Dongguan, Guangdong.
The competition has officially opened its registration channel to all high-quality industrial and start-up projects from the world. The "Top 60 Pioneer Award" will be selected at the end of the competition.
The competition is scheduled to be held from April to November this year, with five major fields digital economy, health industry, intelligent manufacturing equipment, green industry, industrial design, and science and technology services. There will be special tracks for Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Singapore, as well as a women's track.
The competition award model has been further optimized with a worry-free landing award mechanism such as "investment instead of bonuses", landing subsidies, and rent subsidies, providing a "one-stop, full chain" post-competition cultivation service.
Since the first held in 2015, "The Songhu Cup" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition has become a comprehensive service platform integrating various functions such as technical exchange, achievement exhibition, financing match, industrial service, and project landing. It is a unique brand event in the field of science and technology innovation in Dongguan, witnessing the rise and development of a large number of emerging enterprises, such as Narwal, Liberlive, Directdrive, Quotient Kinematics Machine, Xiaotun, Databeyond. In addition, CellWise Microelectronics, Attach Point, and other hidden champions also started from here to a bigger stage.
"The growth of Directdrive is inseparable from Songshan Lake Administrative committee's thoughtful service to the enterprise. Songshan Lake is both a good property manager and mentor for entrepreneurs, as well as a very good angel investor." Zhang Di, chairman of Directdrive, said. As a representative of the previous participating projects, he said that since rooting in Songshan Lake for 8 years, the company has always insisted on being a precision process expert of direct drive components and achieved leapfrog development. In the first quarter of this year, Directdrive's operating revenue has already surpassed that of last year, topping 10 million yuan (1,379,990 U.S. dollar).
After the Opening Ceremony, the organizing committee of the competition will organize preliminary competitions in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Changsha, Xi'an, Wuhan, Chengdu, Dongguan, and other cities, as well as organizing month-by-month promotional seminars of the competition in Nanshan, Futian, Bao'an, Longhua and Guangming New Districts of Shenzhen, to further deepen the Dongguan-Shenzhen linkage and cooperation.
At the Opening Ceremony, Songshan Lake Technology and Innovation Bureau also promoted Songshan Lake Science and Technology Policy Version 2.0 on the spot, explaining in detail to the participants the key contents of the policy, such as promoting original innovation, supporting technology research and development, fostering science and technology enterprises, promoting the transfer and application of scientific and technological achievements, and creating an environment for innovation.
Songshan Lake Science and Technology Policy Version 2.0 was formally issued in April this year, with further upgrades in policy precision and strength. The policy highlights the main position of enterprises in innovation and promotes high-quality development with considerable funds.
The Songshan Lake Science and Technology Policy Version 1.0 Project Cheque Presentation Ceremony was also held on the day of the opening ceremony, presenting award cheques to winners of 2023.
According to incomplete statistics, since the implementation of Songshan Lake Science and Technology Policy 1.0 in 2021, a total of approximately 520 million yuan has been allocated over the past three years, benefiting nearly a thousand enterprises. Among them, approximately 180 million yuan in technology policy implementation funds will be disbursed to various innovative entities in the near future.
"This award is a kind of recognition from Songshan Lake, and we will invest more funds in project research and talent recruitment in the future," said Zhang Shaobing, general manager of Xinghai Biotech.
To continuously strengthen the investment promotion of various strategic emerging industries, Songshan Lake sincerely invites outstanding global enterprises to land in the area. On the same day, the event also held a signing ceremony for the latest investment promotion and expansion project of Songshan Lake. Six enterprise representatives in the field of science and technology services and new materials expressed landing intentions or reached agreements with the landing units of Songshan Lake.
Reporter: Zheng Wenyi, Ling Leyi, Zhu Liting
Pictures: Chen Yajing
