The 2020 ZGC Forum opened on Sept 17, gathering leading scientists, entrepreneurs, and heads of international organizations from around the world.

At the event, a list of prize-winners of the Youth-Zhongguancun U30 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was released, honoring 30 young entrepreneurs in high-end and sophisticated fields.

The contest, sponsored by the China Association for Science and Technology, the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League, the Administrative Committee of Zhongguancun Science Park and the Haidian district government, aiming to motivate entrepreneurs under the age of 35 with high-tech industries, has won active participation by young entrepreneurs at home and abroad and the strong support of service creation and investment institutions.

According to organizers' data, the average age of the 30 winners is 30, and the youngest is only 23 years old. Eighty percent of them have master's degrees or above, with eight having a doctoral degree and nine having received overseas education. About two-thirds of their companies have already had at least one round of financing.

The entrepreneurs, all showing strong creative and independent capabilities, are standouts in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, advanced manufacturing, energy conservation and environmental protection. While solving problems, they provided more than 1,000 jobs for society.

One of the honorees, Ren Zheyu, chief engineer of Luoshi Technology and also a post-doctoral researcher at the Humanoids and Human Centered Mechatronics department of the Italian Institute of Technology is on the cutting edge of industrial robotics.

Another recipient, Li Yuqi, founder of Iok Cold Chain, is committed to systematic innovation in new energy storage materials, heat preservation and refrigeration technologies, and has obtained a number of domestic and foreign invention patents.

In the past five years, the competition has continued to serve youth innovation and entrepreneurship, attracting about 5,000 candidates and more than 100 experts, mentor judges and professors to give suggestions.

Becoming a platform for connection and communication between talents and the government, and society and investment institutions, the competition has arranged face-to-face counseling from well-known mentors for more than 100 superior entries and provided special training for more than 1,000 people.

Also, the winners were provided with promotion and other follow-up support services to help young people innovate and start businesses at multiple levels.

In the future, the contest will be more open and international and pay more attention to technology for humanistic care. It is expected to attract partners from across the world and extensively recruit multiple resources for the benefit of young entrepreneurs.