Entrepreneurs, startups take center stage in international event

"The entrepreneurial atmosphere in China now is in full swing," said Pan Jiang, first secretary of economic affairs at the Chinese Embassy.

Pan spoke at the first Eastern US Startup Competition and 10th Entrepreneurship and Investment Summit on Sunday in Washington.

"There are people who are interested in entrepreneurship, but do not know how [to pursue it]," said Duan Qu, founder and president of the Center for US-China Technology, Innovation and Development, the major organizer of the competition.

"We want them to learn something from this event," said Duan, "to see how the professionals start up their own businesses, what venture capitalists are thinking about [and] what kind of resources are in the area that could assist them."

The winning entry in the competition was a biomedics project: full skin-regeneration material, which helps skin wounds heal more naturally. "I want to see if there is venture capital interested," winner Sun Guoming told China Daily.

One major area that is prominent for startups is life science, according to Duan. "There are about 10,000 professionals working in life sciences in the Washington area," he said. "The funding resource for life science in the Washington area is also very abundant. Here it's easy to create technology rather than just experiences."

"In the Chinese startups, there are two kinds of startups which are more likely to be a success," said Jin Xuecheng, who has co-founded four high-tech companies. "The advantage of life science in the Washington area is very obvious. The second kind is in a brand new field that everyone is at the same starting line," he said.

Jin said that a team is the first factor to consider when starting a business.

"We'll give the team about six months' trial to evaluate before we decide to work together with them," he said.

Among the participants and judges at the competition, almost 50 percent graduated from Tsinghua University, which is often referred to as "China's MIT".

The participants also talked about the role that entrepreneurship played in the economic ties between China and the US

"I hope this kind of event could become an important factor in the process of the cooperation and communication in the science and technology area." said Mei Jianping, counselor (science and technology) at the Chinese Embassy.

"The investment and cooperation between China and US in the area of high tech is very promising, as long as the US loosens up their restrictions," Pan told China Daily.

As the Bilateral Investment Treaty has reached the final stages of negotiation, it will inevitably bring more areas open to each other, according to Pan.

leshuodong@chinadailyusa.com