The Binhai Talent Festival was recently held in Binhai New Area, Tianjin, North China, highlighting the area's commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Binhai Talent Festival is launched in Binhai New Area, Tianjin, North China on Oct 19. [Photo provided by Binhai New Area]

As a key part of the festival, this year's Binhai Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition focused on building a modern industrial system across more than 160 specialized fields. Categories included leadership, startup innovation, international participants and project-based challenges.

For the first time, the competition introduced the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Collaborative Contribution Award and the Talent Scout Award, offering a total prize pool of more than 30 million yuan ($4.21 million), with the top individual prize reaching 1.5 million yuan. The competition supports talent from their idea stage through to entrepreneurship, boosting the revitalization of Binhai's industries.

The event emphasized future and interdisciplinary industries, attracting more than 4,000 participants from over 1,000 universities worldwide, with nearly 200 individuals standing out. Many high-quality projects have already begun implementation, injecting new energy into Binhai's leadership in industrial development.

Notably, the project-based competition partnered with industrial and talent alliances. Sixteen project needs across six sectors, including biomedicine, next-generation information technology and new energy, were posted, with a total planned investment of 2.5 billion yuan ($350 million). This approach guided expert talent from research laboratories to the front lines of industry, ensuring precise alignment between scientific innovations and practical needs. Five outstanding solutions were selected after intense competition.

This year also seen the first international category in the competition, attracting 369 participants from 21 countries and regions, representing 237 universities. A total of 160 innovative and pioneering high-tech projects competed, with 12 outstanding talents emerging as winners.