On the 14th of April 2023, the UKIIC Accelerator (UK International Innovation Centre) welcomed the HICOOL visiting team. The HICOOL visiting team held an offline presentation at the UK International Innovation Centre building in central London. The main purpose of this event was to introduce the HICOOL 2023 Global Entrepreneurship Competition to British entrepreneurs and to discuss deeper cooperation between the UK International Innovation Centre, the University of Surrey, and many other “industry-academia-research” institutions.
The HICOOL 2023 Global Entrepreneurship Competition has set up seven major registration zones, 140 project awards, and 28 investor awards, with a total reward of RMB 100 million. The seven competition verticals are set up according to the industry field, including: artificial intelligence/virtual reality/financial technology vertical, new generation information technology vertical, high-end equipment vertical, medical and health vertical, new energy/new materials/energy conservation and environmental protection vertical, agricultural technology/food technology vertical, and cultural and creative vertical. The competition will last for eight months and will continue through the normalized competition process of registration-online preliminary evaluation-preliminary contest-semifinals-finals, selecting award-winning projects from outstanding global entrepreneurial projects and holding a grand award ceremony at the summit in 2023. In addition to receiving generous monetary rewards, award-winning projects can also enjoy Beijing's favorable entrepreneurship policies, such as talent settlement, children's education, medical insurance, and talent apartments, to continuously empower entrepreneurs.
The HICOOL brand was established in 2020 and is a one-stop entrepreneurship ecosystem platform sponsored by the Beijing Overseas High-level Talent Association. HICOOL has built six sections, including the competition/summit, business school, industry park housekeeper, fund, digital platform, etc. through a multidimensional and international entrepreneurial service system to help entrepreneurs and start-up companies land and develop in Beijing. HICOOL's one-stop entrepreneurship ecosystem platform includes six business sections, which are closely linked and collaborate with each other. Projects and talents are introduced through the competition and summit. After being empowered by the business school, they are incubated and cultivated by the housekeeper, forming a development cluster of entrepreneurial projects at different stages. The industrial park maximizes the clustering effect and helps the entire entrepreneurial lifecycle ecosystem chain of entrepreneurial projects through investment methods, enabling efficient and accurate docking of resources.
The successful holding of this event has been highly appreciated by HICOOL participants and the UK International Innovation Center and the University of Surrey. The UK International Innovation Center is a new accelerator center aimed at promoting deep cooperation in innovation worldwide. It deeply integrates Chinese and British innovation, promotes the landing and development of high-tech technology, innovative enterprises, and talents, promotes industrial integration and collaboration, and has formed an internationally influential industrial and technological innovation ecosystem.
The University of Surrey is one of the famous public research universities in the UK, with good scientific research and teaching resources and is also an important member of the UK innovation ecosystem. A visit to the University of Surrey research park will help deepen understanding of the UK innovation ecosystem and provide participants with more learning and communication opportunities.
The successful holding of this event fully demonstrates the influence and strength of UKIIC and HICOOL in the global entrepreneurship field and provides an opportunity for deeper cooperation among the UK International Innovation Center, the University of Surrey, and HICOOL. We believe that through such cooperation, more entrepreneurs and start-up companies will have the opportunity to realize their dreams and goals in the global entrepreneurship field.
HICOOL will continue to uphold its mission of innovation and entrepreneurship, technological innovation, venture capital, and policy empowerment, continuously improve the quality and level of entrepreneurship services, and provide more and better support and help to global entrepreneurs. The HICOOL visiting team sincerely thanks UKIIC for its support in Sino-British scientific and technological innovation cooperation.