Global competition for young entrepreneurs launches

For young entrepreneurs who yearn for the next big business venture, there's now an entrepreneurial competition to make it possible to pitch their next big idea to top investors around the globe.

The program, dubbed Pitch@Palace China, was launched in Beijing on Tuesday, and is expected to bring together top leaders in terms of industry, academics and capital for participated startups.

The parent venture, Pitch@Palace initiative, was established by Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. With the aim to develop links between the UK and overseas entrepreneurs, the initiative provides global entrepreneurs a worldwide stage to develop their business ideas and help them connect with potential supporters.

The Pitch@Palace China event will select 42 applicants to participate in an intense boot camp and training program in May, where they will be guided by several experts and coaches to develop their ideas. Then 12 selected members will compete in the China region final. By the end of 2017, the finalists will participate in the global final in the UK, pitching their tech business ideas in front of top investors.

"By the support of Pitch@Palace China program, Chinese entrepreneurs are able to gain the strength to compete in the global market. And we will also explore a new way to bring worldwide leading technologies and global resources to China," said Xia Hua, executive vice chairman of the Pitch@Palace China Club and chairwoman of the Eve Group, which is known for making men's suits.

She said the club launched a 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) venture fund for selected startups, offering funding and financial support.

With the theme, Humantech-Benefit for Humanity, the competition will select startups in the fields of biomedicine technologies, consumption and the internet of things, cyber security, big data, education, energy and environmental protection technologies, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, communication and entertainment, robotics and media.

Also on Tuesday, Pitch@Palace China inked cooperation agreements with a few entrepreneurial platforms to attract quality programs for the competition, including Tsinghua Holdings Co Ltd, Entrepreneur's Training Camp at Peking University and Fok Ying Tung Research Institute at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Over the past three years, the Pitch@Palace project has supported hundreds of entrepreneurial projects across the world. Among them are several projects acquired by leading international companies, such as Apple and Twitter, garnering more than 240 million pounds ($302 million) from investors.