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

OVERVIEW

The National Innovation Center par Excellence (NICE), the Seeker for this Wazoku 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.

By taking part in and submitting to this Wazoku Crowd Challenge you are granting NICE the right to evaluate (but not own) your submitted information. The Challenge requires a written proposal to be submitted.

• The business proposals selected during the first evaluation stage will be invited to attend the roadshow competition event in mid-June 2025. The winning projects from the roadshow will receive up to $40,000 USD each as a working fund.

The leader of the winning projects (assigned as the Project Manager by NICE) can use the working fund for international travel, organizing meetings, hiring people, carrying out investigations, conducting technical experiments etc. The working fund is a budget pool, which can only be used for project related activities.

• The second evaluation stage may take around 3 months during which the Project Manager for each project will use the working fund to invest, revise the business proposal, find (local) talent to make the team stronger, find landing sales opportunities etc.

NICE staff will provide full support during this period. After 2-3 months, maybe longer, NICE will conduct a further evaluation with each Project Manager, and if passed, each Project will receive up to $4,000,000 USD in financial support, primarily in the form of a 90% grant. NICE and a relevant local industry partner will also invest in the new company, generally taking a joint and equal total share of up to 10%, under an appropriate agreement.

With this grant comes supporting R&D resource, ‘green channel’ talent policy (including the green channel for moving to and setting up in the region), and comprehensive consultations from the NICE ecosystem.

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

Please review the later Participation Guidance section before submitting a proposal.

- Login or register your interest to start your submission! -

Watch our webinar recording about this Challenge now:

Do you have any questions or need assistance? Feel free to join us in our Challenge Space! If you're interested in learning more about the Evaluators' requirements for this Challenge, we invite you to participate in our upcoming webinar.

ABOUT THE SEEKER & ELIGIBILITY

The National Innovation Center par Excellence (NICE) is a comprehensive innovation center jointly built by the Shanghai municipality and Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces.

NICE, headquartered in Shanghai, is a global platform with a mission to drive applied industrial R&D collaboration in several strategic fields, including new materials, ICT, advanced manufacturing, clean energy and environment protection, medicine and medical equipment. NICE manages a network of 100+ specialized industrial technology research institutes, 200+ global academic institutions, and 500+ industrial partners, with a proven track record tested in China for over a decade in operating large-scale industrial R&D centers to transform proprietary science and technology into scalable industrial applications and commercialization.

This Challenge is open to individuals, teams, startups, and research institutions worldwide. However, projects must have the ability and intention if selected, to establish a business in the Yangtze Delta region of China. To benefit from the full financial support package projects must setup a new company to have a presence in the region.  

Employees of NICE, its industry partners, or any member of an associated party are not eligible to participate.

THE CHALLENGE

Background

Early-stage pioneering projects in developing areas and key fields often face two significant challenges:

1. Technical Evaluation – Many disruptive ideas lack proper validation early in the process, making it difficult for innovators to prove their feasibility to investors and commercial buyers.
2. Early-stage Financing – Many high-potential projects fail due to insufficient funding before reaching commercialization.

By running this Challenge, NICE is aiming to provide grant support to leading technical innovations and their teams, including accelerating their projects with expansion to the Yangtze Delta region of China.

NICE provides a market-driven funding mechanism that de-risks early-stage projects and accelerates their path to market, helping to bridge the ‘funding valley of death’ between research and commercialization.

Last year, the NICE call for business proposals resulted in almost 30 projects advancing to the roadshow competition event with half of these receiving initial funding. The NICE model combines these direct grants of funding with follow-up investment opportunities, including up to $4m USD, ensuring that innovative and successful projects receive the support they need to scale.

By the the end of 2024, NICE had supported 130+ projects under its project manager and hybrid grant and investment model, with total investments of over $460m USD.

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.

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.

Solutions with Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 3-7 are invited.

This Challenge has the following features:

1. By taking part in and submitting you are granting NICE a right to evaluate (but not use or own) your submitted information.
2. The business proposals selected during the first evaluation stage will be invited to attend the roadshow competition event in mid-June 2025. The winning projects from the roadshow will receive up to $40,000 USD each as a working fund, and these winners are typically announced very soon after the roadshow event.
3. The second evaluation stage may take around 3 months during which the Project Manager for each project will use the working fund to invest, revise the business proposal, find (local) talent to make the team stronger, find landing sales opportunities etc.
   NICE staff will provide full support during this period. After 2-3 months, maybe longer, NICE will conduct a further evaluation with each Project Manager, and if passed, each Project will receive up to $4,000,000 USD in financial support, primarily in the form of a 90% grant. NICE and a relevant local industry partner will also invest in the new company, generally taking a joint and equal total share of up to 10%, under an appropriate agreement.
4. Selection decisions will be contingent upon the theoretical evaluation of the proposal as solely determined by NICE against the Solution Requirements, with due diligence conducted against the proposal and your team, and the Solver/team/organization’s ability to and interest in establishing a business presence in China.

YOUR SUBMISSION

Please login and register your interest, to complete the submission form.

Please ensure you attach any supporting technical documents or materials that demonstrate the feasibility and intent of your project; attachments can be ppt and pdf with a maximum size of 5MB.

The submitted proposals must be written in English or Chinese and can include:

1. Participation Type – you will first be asked to inform us how you are participating in this challenge, as a Solver (Individual) or Solver (Organization).
2. Solution Level - the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of your solution.
3. Establish Entity in China - Please confirm your intention and ability to subsequently establish an entity in the Yangtze Delta region if selected for a Grant, Yes or No.
4. Project Field – 1) New Materials, 2) Advanced Manufacturing and Equipment, 3) Information and Communication Technology (ICT), 4) Medicine and Medical Equipment, 5) Clean Energy and Sustainability.
5. Business Plan – including project overview (background, technology, product, IP, funding), market analysis, core team and experience, implementation plan, SWOT and risk analysis, please reference the Solution Requirements above. Please also attach PPT/pdf max 5MB. (500 words, there is space to add more in the following summary field, and attach supporting data, diagrams, etc)

PARTICIPATION GUIDANCE

1. Submission Close Date: Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM US Eastern Time on May 19^th, 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.