HOUSTON, May 23, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- US China Innovation and Investment Summit, which has helped forge a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the city of Austin and Changsha in the Hunan Province of China, recently drew some 300 tech and business leaders to Houston.
Before the summit got underway, parties from Austin and Changsha signed the MOU at the Austin-Changsha Connection Forum. The forum was co-hosted by the China Public Policy Center in the University of Texas at Austin and the US China Innovation Alliance.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler said MOUs serve an important economic driver between cities, especially two made famous as innovation hubs.
"We are finding that our relationships with other cities that we have MOUs with, and relationships with, are more and more a guiding light in how we do the business of this city," Adler said.
Jian Zhu, a senior official of Changsha, agreed saying he sees great potential in the burgeoning relationship with Austin, "based on principles of mutual trust and respect, we can develop a win-win situation in scientific and cultural cooperation."
Following the MOU signing, the US China Innovation Alliance and the China Science and Technology Center co-hosted two days of collaborations at the US China Innovation and Investment Summit drawing small and medium-sized enterprises from the United States and China.
Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin said science and technology cooperation between the countries remains crucial for market relations.
"The (US China and Innovation and Investment) Summit has a special meaning of solving the problem for US small businesses to enter the Chinese market, as well as assisting the Chinese innovative companies to access the international market," Qiangmin said.
In addition to 3,000 B2B matchmaking projects and over 300 cooperative intentions, the Summit facilitated the Houston InnoSTARS preliminary competition attracting entrepreneurs in four tracks related to science, health and technological innovations.
InnoSTARS judges selected the top three companies in each track and all 12 companies won a trip to China to meet with investors and partners this fall:
- Track 1 - Advanced Manufacturing & Materials, & Environmental Technology: First Prize, Ecosweet, Inc.; Second Prize, LinkDyn Robotics, Inc.; and Third Prize, Molecular Rebar Design, LLC.
- Track 2 – Biopharma & Medical Device Digital Health and Diagnosis: First Prize, Vitanova Biomedical, Inc.; Second Prize, Dynamic Light, Inc.; and Third Prize, Clyra Medical Technologies, Inc.
- Track 3 – Information and Communication Technology: First Prize, Smartenius, Inc.; Second Prize, Swytch Solutions; and Third Prize, Emerging Technology Ventures, Inc.
- Track 4 – Energy: First Prize, V3 Technologies, LLC.; Second Prize, Elite Power Solutions; and Third Prize, Gas Activated System, Inc.
"Congratulations to all our Houston InnoSTARS winners," said CEO Stella Liu of US China Innovation Alliance. "We draw the best and brightest to our pitch competitions around the country – this year has been no exception."
Final InnoSTARS preliminary rounds in the United States will take place in Boston, San Francisco, Seattle and Maryland. Entrepreneurs and judging candidates can apply at https://innostars.uschinainnovation.org.
SOURCE US China Innovation Investment Summit
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