Innovative Entrepreneurs Focus At Global Fair

Event draws high-level attendees, boosts city's innovation capacity, injects vitality into startup environment, Ren Xiaojin reports.

The 2017 Chengdu Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday to showcase the world's latest innovation and entrepreneurship trends.

The 2017 GIEF will host 53 events. The organizers have invited more than 600 delegates from 47 countries and regions, including Nobel Prize winners, academicians, renowned scientists and executives from world-leading universities and investment institutions.

The event includes an exhibition covering 40,000 square meters, which has invited more than 600 companies.

One of the highlights of the fair is the Finland Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference, which will be held on Friday in the Jingrong International Plaza in the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone.

Slush, one of the largest venture capital platforms in Northern Europe, will organize a startup event named Slush Up! Chengdu! during the conference.

The event will include online competitions for innovative projects focusing on information and communication technology, artificial intelligence, games, media and communication, and the innovation industry. There will also be lectures by executives from renowned companies, new product unveiling ceremonies and road-shows.

"This year's event will focus on hot areas including ICT and artificial intellegence. In order to encourage international collaboration on innovative entrepreneurship projects, themed speeches and seminars will be held to exchange information on the latest trends in these fields," said Miu Xiaobo, director of the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone's innovation center.

The Slush Up! Chengdu! event will attract institutions involved in global innovation, including delegates from Finland, the United States, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Poland, New Zealand and Russia. A number of startups, universities, venture capital institutions and embassies are also due to attend the event.

So far the Slush conference has proven a success in many locations internationally, including Helsinki, Tokyo, Beijing and Singapore.

"Innovation and entrepreneurship have become a new global trend to achieve sustainable development and common prosperity," Miu said.

Finland's collaboration with Chengdu dates back to 2006 when the Finnish IT giant Nokia set up an office in Chengdu Tianfu Software Park. It has also brought its global technology research and development center to Chengdu.

"We hope to expand industries' horizons, be innovative and share the market through the conference," said Dai Yinling, CEO of the European Union Project Innovation Center, a non-profit organization in Chengdu to facilitate business between EU members and China. "We believe the conference will drive innovation in the market and among companies, and inject more vitality into Chengdu's startups."

The GIEF has long been an important boost to Chengdu's innovation capacity. Last year, more than 70 Fortune 500 companies, local industry leaders, research teams and higher education institutions went to the fair to recruit personnel.

Arthur McDonald, the co-winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, said during his visit in Chengdu last year that the city's history, culture and development plan left a deep impression on him. He said Chengdu is suitable for scientific research and it has attracted many scientists from the world.

Contact the writer at renxiaojin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/10/2017 page6)