Press Release – Singapore Division “Win the Future” 2023 International Venture Contest

2023 “Win the Future” International Venture Contest Singapore Is Back!

In the midst of post pandemic recovery and a volatile global environment, Acies Ventures is once again proud to support the Suzhou Municipal to continue its endeavour to grow start-ups and enable business growths across the region.

Since started in 2011, “Winning the Future” International Venture Contest has established itself to be a global high-level talent innovation and entrepreneurship competition brand created by Suzhou, China.

Alike previous years, the contest will include 5 domestic divisions namely Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Greater Bay Area, Yangtze River Delta, Central China, and Southwest China, as well as 10 overseas divisions in Oceania, Sweden, Japan, North America, Europe, Finland, Singapore, France, the United Kingdom, Germany. The division winning representatives will then compete on the bigger stage in Suzhou, China

The contest aims to continuously explore outstanding talents (teams) and projects in leading industries and cutting-edge technology fields, promote the connection of talents, projects, industries and capital, and build a green channel for innovation and entrepreneurship to Suzhou.

As of 2022, this international contest has successfully held 11 seasons with a total of 74 contest events, attracting more than 10,000 projects and enabled more than 30,000 talents.

Event information of the 2023 “Win the Future” International Venture Contest (Singapore Division)

Sponsor and organizer of the Singapore sub-division

• Suzhou International Elite Entrepreneurship Enterprise Alliance
• Suzhou (Singapore International Maker Incubation Centre)
• Nanyang High-Tech Innovation Centre (Suzhou)
• ACIES Ventures Pte Ltd
• Entrepreneurship Enterprise Alliance

Singapore Division Schedule

Registration stage      : April 15, 2023 to 14 May, 2023

Division Finals Date    : June, 12th 2023 (Monday)

The event format of the finals will be in hybrid format and esteem judges in Singapore and Suzhou will be judging onsite.

Singapore Divisional Finals

First prize                                   :  30,000 RMB (~5,814.98 SGD)

Two x Second-placed prizes :  20,000 RMB (~3,876.66 SGD)

Three x Third-placed prizes  :  10,000 RMB (~1,938.33 SGD)

Additional Rewards

• The winning projects are also directly shortlisted as candidate projects for the global finals of the “Winning the Future” International Maker Competition.
• The first prize winner will also be directly eligible to enter the interview process in the Suzhou Leading Talent Program.
• The second and third prize winners can also earn the chance to be selected for the Grand Finals in Suzhou with special concession. 

Suzhou Grand Final Prizes

First prize                         :  100,000 RMB

Three x Second prizes   :   50,000 RMB

Four x  Third prizes        :   20,000 RMB

Six Consolation prizes   :   10,000 RMB

Additional Rewards

• Those who meet the basic conditions for applying for the Suzhou Leading Talent Program, the first prize winner and the second and third prize winners who have received market-oriented fund investment of more than 10 million yuan (subject to the actual receipt) can be directly identified as Suzhou Innovation.
• Second and third prize winners can directly enter the Suzhou Leading Talent Program.
• The winning projects will be preferentially recommended to the cooperation (relevant) venture capital institutions of the competition, and will be given priority for loan and credit support from the partner banks of the competition.
• During the global finals, the participating guests will enjoy differential transportation subsidies and free board and lodging during the Suzhou International Elite Entrepreneurship Week.

Interested startups are encouraged to sign up before the deadline.

About Suzhou Innovation and Entrepreneurship Environment

At present, Suzhou is devoted to building the integration of Shanghai and Suzhou, with a huge focus on “entrepreneurship”. To achieve the goal of “a paradise for innovators and a paradise for innovators”, it will focus on promoting independent innovation and open innovation, comprehensively improve the ability of scientific and technological innovation and the level of digital construction. With its unlimited opportunities, Suzhou provides an infinitely broad development stage for global elites.

Currently, the gross domestic product of Suzhou will reach a new level of 2 trillion yuan, ranking sixth in the country; the total industrial output value and industrial added value above the scale will rank among the top three cities in the country, and the output value of high-tech industries and strategic emerging industries will rank among the top three in the country. The proportions reached 50.9% and 55.7% respectively; there are 144 domestic A-share listed companies, ranking fifth in the country, and 20 companies listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, ranking third in the country.

As one of the three major industrial cities in the country, Suzhou has strong industrial vertical integration strength in the world. There are 10 advanced manufacturing clusters of 100 billion such as new display, optical communication, and high-end equipment manufacturing. In the new generation of information technology, biological Industries such as medicine, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology applications have gradually formed leading advantages.

At present, the total number of talents in Suzhou exceeds 2.93 million, the total number of high-level talents is nearly 270,000, and the number of returnees from overseas studies exceeds 50,000. For the ninth consecutive year, Suzhou has been selected as the “Most Attractive Chinese City in the Eyes of Foreign Talents”.

About NTUIC

Nanyang High-tech Innovation Center was established in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in 2017, An innovative platform authorized by NTUitive, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, it was approved as a construction project of the Jiangsu Province Science and Technology Plan International Technology Transfer Service Agency in 2019 and is a member of Suzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau Overseas Cooperation Organization.

About ACIES Ventures

A boutique venture building and innovation enabler studio for founders and corporate entities to come together to jointly solve pressing problems in today’s increasingly complex and rigorous business, political and social landscape. ACIES looks to enable visionary entrepreneurs and technology talents to develop promising and fast-growing start-ups through empowering with transferrable, applicable and scalable skillsets, regardless which point of the entrepreneurship journey they are at.