China International College Students’“Internet+” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition has been held for six sessions since 2015. Participated by 15.78 million college students in 3.77 million teams from 124 countries and regions in five continents, the Competition has not only become an important vehicle and platform for the reform of education on innovation and entrepreneurship, but also a global event for college students worldwide to pursue dreams in innovation and entrepreneurship.
The 7th China International College Students’“Internet+” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition will be held in 2021. We invite excellent young people engaged in innovation and entrepreneurship all over the world to this event where entrants “dare to imagine and innovate”, compete and exchange with each other, and explore innovative ways of cooperation to deal with global crises and drive sustainable development of humanity.
I. Requirements for Projects Entered
1. The projects entered shall apply new-generation information technology such as mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, next-generation communication technology, and block chain to economic and social fields to serve the construction of new infrastructure, and develop new products, services, business types, and models; bring into play the role of the Internet in driving industrial upgrading as well as the integration of informatization and industrialization; promote the transformation and upgrading of industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, energy, and environmental protection; leverage the role of the Internet in social services, innovate network service models, and promote the integration of the Internet with education, medical care, transport, finance, and consumption for living. For specific types of projects entered, please consult the Chinese host university or overseas partners of the Competition.
2. The projects entered must be actual, ethical, legal, and free of harmful information; shall aim to promote positive energy; and must not infringe on the intellectual property rights of others. All inventions, patented technologies, and resources involved must have clear legal intellectual property rights or property rights. Entrants who submit plagiarized, pirated or false entries will be disqualified and bear all legal liabilities.
3. If the project entered involves the intellectual property rights of others, the entrant is required to submit in writing and in its entirety a legally valid letter of authorization from the intellectual property rights owner. If the project entered involves a company registered with the supervising authority, the entrant is required to submit photocopies of the business license, certificate of registration, organization code certificate, etc. as well as the business profile, information on the legal representative, equity structure, etc. Entrants can also submit documents on the entries’ financial status, investment obtained, jobs created, etc. We advise entrants to provide at the finals the credentials such as investment agreement and certificate of investment payment if: the project entered has received an investment of over 10 million yuan; or the project entered has received an annual income of 10 million yuan and above in or before 2020.
4. All projects entered must abide by the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese laws and regulations; show respect for the Chinese culture; and comply with public morals.
5. Every project is allowed to enter for the Competition in only one track if it meets the requirements of that track. Projects that have won the Gold or Silver Awards in previous sessions of this Competition are not eligible this year.
6. Entrants must be under 35 years old (born after March 1, 1986).
II. How to Participate
This Competition only accepts team entries. All entrants must enter in teams of 2 to 15 people (team leader included). A team may be formed by members from more than one college. All entrants must be core members of the project entered.
All entrants must be students who are currently enrolled at a foreign college or those who have graduated within the past 5 years. The application should be submitted by the leader of the participating team. The participating college refers to the foreign college which the team leader is currently enrolled at or has graduated from. (A foreign college refers to a higher education institution or vocational school that is located outside the People’s Republic of China and is qualified to provide education and award degrees. A student enrolled at a foreign college refers to a student who has registered and studied at a foreign college and is qualified to receive a degree or diploma.)
All projects entered will be divided into Undergraduate Creativity Category, Postgraduate Creativity Category, Emerging Project Category, and Rising Project Category according to their business start-up stages, investment obtained and features. Requirements for each Category are as follows:
1. Undergraduate Creativity Category. Projects entered that:
(1) are creative;
(2) have mature product prototypes or service models;
(3) have not completed business registration and other types of registration on or before April 16, 2021.
The applicant must be the team leader, and the team leader and members must be current undergraduates or junior college students.
2. Postgraduate Creativity Category. Projects entered that:
(1) are creative;
(2) have mature product prototypes or service models;
(3) have not completed business registration and other types of registration on or before April 16, 2021.
The applicant must be the team leader, and the team leader and members must be current postgraduates or undergraduates/junior college students.
3. Emerging Project Category. Projects entered that:
(1)have completed business registration or other types of registration within the past three years (after March 1, 2018);
(2)have completed no more than one round of equity investment. The applicant must be the legal representative of the start-up.
4. Rising Project Category. Projects entered that:
(1)have completed business registration or other types of registration for over three years (prior to March 1, 2018); or
(2) have completed business registration or other types of registration within the past three years (after March 1, 2018); and
(3) have completed two or more rounds of equity investment.
The applicant must be the legal representative of the company.
III. Competition Rules
International entries participating in the higher education track competition will be evaluated in categories together with but ranked separately from the entries from Chinese mainland and those from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions of China. The Competition will be divided by the organizing committee into three stages of qualification review, online evaluation, and on-site competition.
1. Qualification review (August 1-15, 2021). Regarding the main points of the evaluation rules, the organizing committee will review the qualifications and integrity of documents of the international entries.
2. Online evaluation (August 16-31, 2021). Multiple rounds of online evaluation will be performed on qualified entries. The final round will be the online evaluation for the finals.
3. On-site competition (late October 2021). The excellent projects selected by the online evaluation for the finals will participate in the on-site finals. If the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control and international flights are back to normal, the organizing committee will cover for 1-2 members from each of the finalist teams the air travel expenses (round-trip and economy class only) and the local accommodation and transportation expenses during the competition period. If on-site competition is not possible, evaluation of defense in the finals will be held in the form of online road show.
IV. Awards
A total of 500 international entries will be selected for online evaluation at the finals, 150 of which will be shortlisted for the on-site finals, 50 of which will receive the Gold Award, and the remaining 100 projects will receive the Silver Award. The remaining 350 projects that fail to enter the on-site finals will receive the Bronze Award.
The organizing committee will present the winners with award certificates and assist them in finding investment and incubators. International entries for the championship round will receive corresponding cash award based on the results at the Competition.
The organizing committee will present the Outstanding Innovation and Entrepreneurship Mentor Award, and for our partners, we will present the International Project Organization Award.
V. Registration
1. Entrants must register at https://www.pilcchina.org/, the official website for the Promotion Association for Global Youth Innovation Leaders Community (PILC). Registration will open at 0:00 on June 1, 2021 and close at 24:00 on July 31, 2021 (Beijing time, UTC+8).
2. Entrants shall provide a business plan in PPT format and can also choose whether to provide a business plan in Word format or a 1-minute video as a supplement. To facilitate the review, please convert your business plan to PDF format before uploading.
3. To facilitate the review of qualifications, all team members must submit proof of academic status or diploma or shareholding before the closing date. Teams with mentors must also fill out the mentors’ information on the registration system.
4. In principle, all entry materials and on-site defense should be in Chinese or English. For other languages, please contact the organizing committee.
VI. Judging Criteria
For detailed information on the judging rules and criteria of the Competition, please visit https://cy.ncss.cn or https://www.pilcchina.org/.
VII. Miscellaneous
The organizing committee of the China International College Students’“Internet+” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition reserves the right to make the final interpretation of all terms in this Appendix.
VIII. Contact Us
1.FAN Zhi, Promotion Association for the Global Youth Innovation Leadership Community (PILC)
Tel: 0086-13581973690; Email: info@pilcchina.org
Address: 4/F, B2, Shuangqing Building, Haidian District, Beijing100101, China
2. HAO Hao, China Higher Education Student Information and Career Center
Tel: 0086-10-68352311; Email: haoh@chsi.com.cn
Address: Tower C Jinmao Building, 18 Xizhimenwai Street, Xicheng District, Beijing 100044, China
3. SONG Wenjie, International Exchange College, Nanchang University
Tel: 0086-791-83969196; Email: iec@ncu.edu.cn
Address: 999 Xuefu Avenue, Honggutan New District, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province330031, China
4. LI Wei, General Office, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China
Tel: 0086-10-66097850; Email: internetplus@moe.edu.cn
Address: 37 Damucang Hutong, Xicheng District, Beijing100816, China
Organizing Committee of China International College Students’“Internet+” Innovation and
Entrepreneurship Competition
April 2021