Zhang Qian

zhqcindy@163.com

TWO innovators, Almog Aley-raz and Gilad Litvin, from Tel Aviv, Israel won the first prize for the grand final contest of the Second China (Shenzhen) Innovation & Entrepreneurship International Competition held at Cloud Park in Longgang District on Thursday.

They will receive an award of 1 million yuan (US$159,200).

The project presented by the Israeli startup was called CorNeat Vision, a technology that transplants a new type of artificial cornea into visionally impaired patients.

The cutting-edge project adopts Nano Optical technology for the artificial cornea, which lowers the cost of the transplant while reducing the risk of a patient developing a vision disease again through its unique seam technology.

According to the startup, they are applying for patents for the technology in 13 countries and regions, including China, Japan, the United States, Australia and Europe. It is expected that the technology will replace conventional cornea transplant surgery.

Three projects selected from the Berlin, Silicon Valley and Toronto regional contests won second prizes, while six other projects from Tel Aviv, Boston, Silicon Valley and Sydney earned third prizes.

The final winners will be awarded at the opening of the Conference on International Exchange of Professionals on Saturday at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.

A total of 23 projects entered Thursday’s grand final contest. All of the final contestants were winners of the top three prizes in the five industry contests and three professional contests held in Shenzhen earlier this week.

“The projects we have in this year’s final contests are beyond my expectations, as all of them are very practical yet innovative ideas that meet the demands of current markets, especially in the health-care sector. We see a lot of exciting breakthroughs,” said Zhou Songnian, a member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Zhou is one of the nine judges for the final contest. The other judges include the CEO of BGI, Yin Ye, Zhang Yunpeng from Green Pine Capital Partners, and Cai Xiaoqiang, vice president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, among other heavyweights at academic institutions and investment firms.

The competition held preliminary contests in March in Boston, Stockholm, Sydney, Toronto, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Silicon Valley and London to attract talents and projects. More than 1,400 contestants signed up for the preliminary contests this year.

The total prize money for the event increased to 10.91 million yuan from last year’s 9.12 million yuan, which covers all of the contests, from preliminaries to finals.

The competition is a major event of the Conference on International Exchange of Professionals.