Record number of applications and 200 winners at Beijing startup competition
As part of the HICOOL 2026 global entrepreneurship competition, 200 winning projects were selected from a record number of applications — 10,209 applications from 13,472 entrepreneurs. The competition, which concluded after 170 rounds, awarded 12 first prizes, 36 second prizes, 68 third prizes and 84 excellence awards. The winning projects cover fields such as artificial intelligence, biomedicine, new energy, quantum information and high‑tech equipment. The winners will be presented at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2026 in Beijing, which will take place from 26 to 29 August.
The summit combines technology exhibitions and industry meetings with presentations of winning projects, aiming to help start‑ups connect early‑stage research and products with commercial applications. Over its seven years, HICOOL has helped create five listed companies and 219 small and medium‑sized enterprises officially recognised by China as "specialised and advanced" for their niche expertise, innovation potential and cutting‑edge technologies.
The summit's five exhibition zones showcase artificial intelligence applications, brain‑computer interfaces and synthetic biology products, providing participating companies with a platform to demonstrate new technologies and find potential partners. Several international cooperation initiatives were also presented at the summit, including the Global Entrepreneurship Services Alliance and the "Panoramic Digital Life" international science programme. The programme aims to develop a digital model of living systems across different biological scales. "Panoramic Digital Life will create a complete, dynamic digital model of life, from molecules and cells to the human body. This could transform the biological sciences," said Cheng Heping, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Beyond showcasing new technologies, the summit also highlighted Beijing's efforts to build bridges between entrepreneurs and research institutions, industry partners, funding and professional services. "Beijing applies a comprehensive approach to education, technology and talent development, bringing together government, industry, universities, research institutes, financial institutions, service providers and end‑users to help turn innovation into real applications. We are also building a youth‑friendly support system so that talented people can find development opportunities in Beijing without unnecessary concerns," said Liu Guangyi, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Talent Employment Bureau.
As CCTV+ reports, the competition and summit have become an important platform for international cooperation in high technology. The record number of participants and the breadth of fields represented confirm that China remains one of the main hubs for global innovation. In the coming years, the winning projects are expected to bring real products to market, and Beijing will continue to strengthen its reputation as a city where the future is born.
