The Canada Confederation of Shenzhen Associations (CCSA) and the Sino-Canada International Innovation Centre are launching The Second China (Shenzhen) Innovation & Entrepreneurship International Competition, Toronto Division on March 24.
This is the second time the city is hosting the competition. “Toronto is proud to again be part of this competition, which provides an exceptional opportunity for our companies to build their profile in China and worldwide,” said City of Toronto Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong. “This initiative demonstrates how Toronto and Shenzhen are forging strong mutual business relationships through the innovations of our city’s diverse start-up community.”
Initiated by the Municipality of Shenzhen, the competition is being hosted by local governments in Toronto, Silicon Valley, Sydney, Tokyo, Boston, Tel Aviv, London, Stockholm, and Berlin. The competition will offer prizes totaling $2.09 million, and a venture capital pool of $4 billion has also been set up by 34 investment institutions for all the nine divisions, which helps support outstanding projects.
“China is using innovation as the primary engine to grow its economic development. By implementing creativity strategy in the nation-wide level, China has become a world innovation leader in several domains,” said Yaodong Zhuang, Acting Consul General of General Consulate of China. “Canada and China have established a great working relationship and cooperation regarding innovation, including innovation forums, funds, and exchange of young professionals, and have both enjoyed the positive outcomes.”
Judges for Toronto’s competition include Mayor John Tory, wearable tech expert Steve Mann, Canadian Academy of Engineering fellow Songnian Zhou, and Rotman School of Management professor Richard Blundell. The competition will be hosted at the MaRS Discovery District. Applications are open until February 28, and available here.
