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Jitri Challenge

Win Grants for your Pioneering Projects and launch in the Yangtze Delta

The National Innovation Center par Excellence (NICE), the Seeker for this Crowd Challenge, is seeking groundbreaking technical innovations and projects across 5 key fields:

  • New Materials
  • Advanced Manufacturing and Equipment
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
  • Medicine and Medical Equipment
  • Clean Energy and Sustainability

This Challenge is designed to identify and launch pioneering projects in these fields with the financial backing, expert guidance, and R&D support of the NICE ecosystem.

NICE is offering a unique opportunity for innovators, start-ups, and research teams to accelerate their commercialization for breakthrough projects, products, and services in the 5 key fields. Selected projects will be offered up to $40,000 in initial funding, with the potential for up to $4m of further funding primarily in the form of a grant.

Projects must have the ability and intention to set up a business entity or already have a legal and commercial presence in the Yangtze Delta region of China (Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Anhui) in order to be selected and receive funding. Only projects without a current presence or less than 3 years presence in China will be considered.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM US Eastern Time on May 19th, 2025.

The Challenge

NICE is interested in receiving proposals from individuals, teams, start-ups, and research organizations in the following fields:

  • New materials – including but not limited to: innovations in materials science, composites, and advanced functional materials.
  • Advanced manufacturing and equipment – including but not limited to: smart manufacturing, robotics, and automation technologies.
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) – included but not limited to: next-generation computing, Mobile Edge Computing, IoT, brain–computer interfaces, various IC (integrated circuit) and Sensor applications.
  • Medicine and medical equipment – including but not limited to: new medical devices, biotechnology innovations, and digital health solutions.
  • Clean energy and sustainability – including but not limited to: renewable energy, energy storage, and carbon-neutral technologies.

Your proposal must detail the technical innovation, with a realistic business plan detailing the potential market and implementation opportunity, and include any relevant Intellectual Property (IP) information.

 

SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS

NICE will evaluate submissions based on their fit to one or more of the 5 key fields, the strength of the business plan, and the desire and ability of the individual/team/organization to establish a business entity and presence in the Yangtze Delta region of China.

Projects and their business proposals will be evaluated theoretically by the NICE team before progressing through a structured format of technical review from experts within the field, due diligence, and a roadshow competition event in June 2025.

NICE is interested in projects with the potential to meet the following requirements:
 

Must have:

  1. Cutting-edge technical innovation in one of the key fields: New Materials; Advanced Manufacturing and Equipment; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Medicine and Medical Equipment; Clean Energy and Sustainability.
  2. Independent intellectual property (IP) rights to your technical innovation – by participating and creating a proposal, you affirm that you own the right to transmit, detail, and enter into potential agreements based on this IP.
  3. Intention to set up a business or existing business presence (<3 years) in the Yangtze Delta area of China – NICE is looking to support innovators on their commercialization journey by giving widespread support from its ecosystem in the Yangtze Delta region. By participating, you are affirming your ability and intention to start a legal entity in one of the following areas: Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Anhui. You’ll be asked to confirm this in the submission form.
  4. Detailed business plan and analysis for the commercialization of your technical innovation, including: background, project overview, IP, market analysis, people and team set-up, implementation plan, risk analysis or SWOT analysis.
  5. TRL level between 3 and 7: Anything from late stage ideation projects up to almost production ready.

Additionally, NICE is also interested in the following nice-to-have requirements:

  • Already identified potential customers/partners in China for the project, or projects that already have collaboration(s) with universities, institutes, and/or companies in China
  • If the project can state that it meets the urgent demands of (local) industry, it will be well placed for selection
  • If the project team is interested in starting a legal entity in other areas, like Hong Kong or Dubai, NICE is willing to discuss this as a future possibility, although this is not an immediate consideration affecting selection for financial support for this Challenge.

Things to Avoid:

  • Businesses with a long-term, established presence in China will not be considered. This Challenge is focused on discovering and supporting pioneering projects that struggle with early-stage financing and technical evaluation.
  • Applications from Solvers who are unable or do not want to establish a presence in China.

PARTICIPATION GUIDANCE

  1. Submission Close Date: Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM US Eastern Time on May 19th, 2025.
  2. Late submissions: Late submissions will not be considered.
  3. This Challenge is open to individuals, teams, startups, and research institutions worldwide. Projects must have the ability and intention to establish a business entity in the Yangtze Delta region of China, or if they already have a legal and commercial presence in China this must have been established within the last 3 years.
  4. Multiple submissions, 3 Maximum: In case of multiple submissions by the same Solver, only 3 submissions – the final 3 submitted – will be considered. Any other submissions will be deleted prior to evaluation.
  5. Submission form and attachments: Your submission will be evaluated by the evaluation team both reviewing the information and content you have submitted at the submission form, along with your attachments used as additional details and context to your form submission.
  6. Evaluation notification steps: After the Challenge submission close date, NICE will complete the review process stages and make decisions with regards to the winning project(s) for each stage according to the timeline in the Challenge header. All Solvers who submit a proposal will be notified about the status of their submissions.
  7. Use of AI: Please note that any submissions produced solely with generative AI are not of interest.
  8. Learn more: Find out more about participation in Wazoku Crowd Challenges.

 

Contact us to submit your challenge