According to the data released by the organizing committee of the HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneurship Competition (hereinafter referred to as the "Competition"), the Competition witnessed many record highs this year with 7,406 entrepreneurial projects and 9,700 talented participants from 124 countries and regions, marking a 30 percent increase in the numbers of both the registered projects and the participants compared with last year.

Notably, the "AI/VR/FinTech" track saw the highest growth, with 1,760 entries, increasing by 38 percent compared with last year, accounting for about 24 percent of all entries, and ranking first among all the seven tracks. The "Medicine and Healthcare" track and the "Cultural Creativity" track ranked second together, each with 1,172 entries.

The HICOOL Global Entrepreneurship Competition is renowned for its international reach. This year, a total of 4,683 overseas projects and 3,209 foreign talented minds have been registered, accounting for 63 percent and 33 percent of the respective total. In 2024, HICOOL cooperates with 155 partners worldwide, growing by 23 percent year on year. During the registration phase, HICOOL and its partners from all over the world held 85 information sessions in more than 30 countries and regions, including the United States, France, Italy, Singapore, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and China's Hong Kong SAR, involving over 55,000 entrepreneurs around the globe.

The Competition will proceed from May to late July with the preliminary, semi-final, and final rounds, culminating in an award ceremony in late August. After rigorous rounds of evaluations and contests, the winning projects will be unveiled at the HICOOL 2024 Global Entrepreneur Summit tentatively scheduled from August 23 to 25, 2024.

(Source: Beijing Daily)