Promising teams to represent Shanghai in national innovation comp

Ten programs won out in the Shanghai session of a national “China Innovation Wing” competition over the weekend, four of which will represent Shanghai in the national final to be held in Beijing in October.

The winning programs include five young companies registered no more than five years ago, as well as five business programs being incubated.

Two of the companies — Fan Deng Readers’ Club, an app aiming to promote reading among the public, and Squirrel AI, an online and offline K12 education platform — as well as two of the incubated programs, will attend the national final contest in Beijing.

All the winning groups were awarded monetary prizes ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 yuan (US$7,335 to US$14,670). They will also enjoy up to 500,000 yuan of guaranteed loans and free training, as well as some other favorable policies.

The “China Innovation Wing” competition was the third of its kind hosted by China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the National Development and Reform Commission, and some other parties.

It attracted 1,578 teams from Shanghai, 96 of whom made it into the final. The participating teams possess 432 intellectual property patents and have created more than 800 jobs, according to organizers.