How much can a newly formed idea and a newly established studio be worth? At the 4th "Cultural and Creative Shanghai" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition launched on March 20, the answer may be: golden ideas are valued more than current profit figures.
This competition is based on the core concept of "breaking circles and integrating". One of the highlights is that "only an upper limit is set, but no lower limit" for participating companies – whether you are a fledgling individual creator or a passionate college student entrepreneurial team, as long as you have a good idea, the competition is the stage. "This move is aimed at making the event more grounded and providing more opportunities for start-ups and new projects to be seen," explained Zhou Jiaxian, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Cultural and Creative Industries Promotion Association. To this end, the competition specially introduces experts from investment banking institutions as judges, focusing on the "new content" of the project. On this platform, "potential stocks" are more valuable than "blue chip stocks".
Since the first event in 2023, the "Cultural and Creative Shanghai" competition has attracted more than 3,200 companies to register, and has unearthed a number of high-quality companies such as Huying Technology, Active Culture, and Xiwu Culture, and has become an innovation incubator and talent pool for Shanghai's cultural and creative industry. This competition has been fully upgraded, closely following the new trends in the industry, and exploring new tracks such as "Internet high-quality content creation +", "game development +" and "digital advertising +". The competition pioneered the "one district, one competition, one district, one characteristic" model, setting up ten vertical tracks around the key industrial directions of each district, so that each track has exclusive industrial resources and policy support, and achieves "project selection and district-level needs resonate at the same frequency."
This feature is most vividly reflected in specific tracks. For example, the "Cultural Performing Arts +" track hosted by Huangpu District is committed to promoting the reshaping of the boundaries of the performing arts industry. "In the competition, we are soliciting not just a project, but all the creative possibilities that can connect the performing arts." said Kang Qi, director of the Shanghai Performing Arts World Service Center. "We will give it full life cycle support from germination to growth." The "Music Innovation+" track hosted in Hongkou District extensively explores the diverse integration of music and audio technology, self-cultivation and healing, AI applications and other fields. A "Music Innovation Achievements Exhibition" will be held in the final stage to present a number of high-quality projects.
It is reported that the competition has built a resource link platform covering the entire cycle before, during and after the competition, and provides full chain support for participating projects through a series of activities such as "Promotion Meeting + Venture Capital Exchange + Private Board Meeting". Winning companies will also enjoy ten exclusive services such as policy application, talent subsidies, incubation, and achievement display, and receive all-dimensional development empowerment from golden ideas to good projects.
