In a bid to attract more top domestic and overseas entrepreneurs, the county-level city of Qidong – administered by Nantong, in East China's Jiangsu province – launched the sixth Qichuang Cup Entrepreneurship Competition on Feb 26.

The contest is scheduled to run to the end of July and participants will mainly include top talent and team projects from at home and abroad – including those still in the initial stages of entrepreneurship who have settled in the city, with the intention to found or lead enterprises in Qidong.

The focus will be on key industry fields including life and health technology, marine engineering and heavy equipment, new materials, new energy, electronics information, semiconductor equipment and precision machinery. The competition will adopt an "N+1" competition mode which includes several industry competitions and the final.

Projects winning the first, second and third prizes in the final will qualify to be directly selected in the entrepreneurship category of Qidong's Dongjiang Talent Plan and receive a subsidy of 500,000 yuan to 10 million yuan ($1.54 million). That comes with the proviso that they meet the application conditions of the plan and start businesses in Qidong within a year of winning their prize.

Eligible winning projects that successfully matchmake with local businesses and industrialize can be directly selected in the innovation category of the Dongjiang Talent Plan and receive a subsidy of 300,000 yuan to 3 million yuan.

All the projects described above have priority for inclusion in major national talent projects and provincial innovation and entrepreneurship plans.

To encourage top domestic and overseas entrepreneurs to start businesses in Qidong, the competition will provide the winning projects with a range of incentives and services – such as a venue free of charge to start up their business within three years, housing subsidies of up to 3 million yuan and a living allowance of up to 10,000 yuan each month.