Macau, China, Sept. 30, 2024 (Lusa) - The fourth edition of the 929 Challenge in Macau attracted more than 300 teams and startups from China and Portuguese-speaking countries, one of the organisers of the entrepreneurship competition told Lusa on Monday.
Marco Duarte Rizzolio, co-founder of the 929 Challenge, emphasised that 45% of the entrants came from Portuguese-speaking markets, an increase compared to previous editions, which saw a greater dominance of Chinese teams.
The professor at the City University of Macau also highlighted "much greater participation" from Brazil and Portugal, where 30 teams came from, but regretted that there were no projects from Timor-Leste or Sao Tome and Principe.
The 2023 edition had attracted around 1,500 participants in more than 280 teams from all nine Portuguese-speaking countries and China.
Rizzolio acknowledged that the increase in the number of entries had surprised the organisers, but stressed that the ultimate goal "is not quantity, but quality projects that can then be applied commercially".
The more than 300 teams are starting an online bootcamp today, every day from 19:00 to 21:00 in Macau (from 12:00 to 14:00 in Lisbon), "to catch all the time zones", explained the academic.
For a fortnight, until 11 October, the teams will have a series of lectures, mentoring sessions and workshops to create sustainable business plans.
"We show the Chinese startups the reality and business environment of Portuguese-speaking countries, which are very different," said Rizzolio.
The organizer added that the goal for the Portuguese-speaking teams is to create business plans with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-M Macau Greater Bay Area in mind.
The Greater Bay Area is a project by Beijing to create a global metropolis comprising Hong Kong, Macau, and nine cities in Guangdong province. The region has around 80 million inhabitants and a gross domestic product (GDP) of more than one trillion euros, similar to the GDP of Australia, Indonesia, or Mexico, the G20 countries.
The best 16 plans - eight from companies and eight from university students - will have 10 minutes to convince the 929 Challenge jury and potential investors at the final on 9 November.
The fourth edition has seen an increase in prize money for the top three: 300,000 patacas (€33,600) and 4,000 dollars (€3,600) in services and tools from Chinese technology giant Alibaba.
Afterwards, a support programme for companies wishing to establish themselves in Macau and the Greater Bay Area will be held, which includes two weeks of visits to incubators and meetings with venture capital funds.
For the first time this year, a soft landing programme of up to three months will be available for projects that want to start a business in Macau.
For startups needing capital, the competition has agreements with possible investors, including Portugal Ventures, the venture capital company of the state-owned Banco Português de Fomento group.
The competition is co-organised by the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macau) and various institutions in the Chinese special administrative region, including all the universities.
VQ/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
