The city of Suzhou in east China’s Jiangsu province kicked off its UK division of the 2023 International Maker Competition was on May 29 in London. 10 contestants participated in the on-site roadshow of the competition that focuses on four major industrial innovation clusters that include electronic information, equipment manufacturing, biopharmaceuticals, and advanced materials.
For the new generation of sportswear and functional clothing, a permanent modification project of polyester fiber by a team from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, won first prize in the UK competition.
The award-winning projects can be directly selected as candidates for the global finals of the "Winning in Suzhou, Creating a Winning Future" international maker competition.
This competition consists of 6 domestic divisions and 5 overseas divisions from the UK, the Netherlands, Singapore, France, and Sweden. At the same time, each county-level city or district in Greater Suzhou held 10 overseas direct competitions to help overseas talents gather in Suzhou.
In the UK competition, the members of the review team are professors and investors from well-known universities and investment institutions in the UK.
“We watched high-quality roadshows from 10 innovative companies, and all the review team members were deeply impressed by the contestants' professional speeches.The participants provided high-quality answers to some highly challenging questions raised by the review members.I am glad that the organizer organized such an event, which gave us the opportunity to meet these very intelligent and outstanding athletes. I would also like to add that we are in the UK but our hearts are in Suzhou”, Dr. Richard Leaver, member of review team, Partner of Boundary Capital Partners Limited, said.
Founded in 2011, the International Maker Competition is a global high-level talent innovation and entrepreneurship competition brand created by Suzhou.
As of 2022, the competition has held 12 sessions and a total of 91 events, covering major innovation resource gathering regions around the world, including North America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. The competition attracted over 9500 projects and more than 30 thousand talents to participate in on-site activities, helping a large number of talents to take root in Suzhou to launch startup businesses.