On the evening of August 26, the HICOOL 2026 Global Entrepreneur Summit, themed “From Innovation Breakthroughs to Industry Benchmarks”, opened in Beijing. Yin Li, Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, attended the opening ceremony and delivered remarks. Yin Yong, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Mayor of Beijing, was also in attendance.
This year’s summit is a combination of competitions, exhibitions and conferences. The main competition drew 10,209 startup projects and 13,472 entrepreneurs from 141 countries and regions worldwide, with both project and participant numbers hitting record highs. In addition to the flagship main contest, this year’s event also featured the Youth Entrepreneurship Dream Competition, the Corporate Innovation Challenge, and the OPC Competition, forming a matrix of “one main event plus three competitions”. After seven years of development, the HICOOL ecosystem has incubated and nurtured five listed companies, 18 unicorn enterprises and 219 specialized, high-end and innovation-driven enterprises that provide distinctive products or services. Total post-competition financing secured by award-winning projects has exceeded 70 billion yuan.
In his remarks, Yin Li noted that President Xi Jinping has pointed out that scientific and technological achievements can only deliver genuine value and drive development when they meet national needs, the aspirations of the people and market demand, and complete the three-stage leap from scientific research, through experimental development, to large-scale application. Beijing boasts a full-fledged education system, robust scientific research capacity and abundant human resources. Its city-wide R&D investment intensity has remained above 6% for many years. Major innovation breakthroughs have been made in fields including artificial intelligence, blockchain and brain-computer interface, fostering three trillion-yuan and seven hundred-billion-yuan industrial clusters. Innovation and entrepreneurship activities are flourishing across the city. This year, the Humanoid Robot Half Marathon, the World Robot Conference and the World Humanoid Robot Games have showcased a host of breakthrough outcomes. The commercial aerospace sector has achieved land-based rocket recovery, presenting the world with the accelerated iteration of cutting-edge technologies and the dynamism of scientific and technological innovation.
Yin Li said that Beijing will accelerate its development into a major global hub for science, talent and innovation, building more platforms for all types of innovation entities to leverage their strengths and pursue their ambitions. Beijing stands ready to work with all stakeholders to foster original innovation and refine the mechanism whereby industries identify challenges and science and technologies serve as solutions. Support will be extended to universities, research institutions and enterprises to establish joint innovation consortia and advance scientific discoveries and breakthroughs in foundational technologies. Beijing will further implement the AI Plus Initiative, strengthen the role of enterprises as main players in innovation, facilitate the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements, and foster more strategic emerging and future industries with global competitiveness. It will also continue to expand openness, exchanges and cooperation, making technology more accessible and promoting the sharing of innovation outcomes. The city extends a sincere welcome to innovators and entrepreneurs across the globe to establish and grow their businesses in Beijing, so that every seed of innovation can take root and flourish in this fertile ground.
Omar M. Yaghi, the 2025 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, also delivered remarks at the opening ceremony. The event featured the release of the 2026 Global Entrepreneur Insights Report and the launch of the Global OPC Support Plan, alongside events including “Entrepreneurs Talk” and the Global Entrepreneurship Competition Awards Ceremony. Prior to the opening ceremony, attending leaders toured exhibition areas showcasing HICOOL’s outcomes in supporting the capital’s high-quality development, innovation and entrepreneurship, world-class universities, and international cooperation. They learned about the latest sci-tech achievements and startup projects from China and abroad, and held in-depth discussions with innovators and entrepreneurs.
The event was attended by leaders from relevant central government departments and Beijing Municipality, officials from relevant municipal departments and districts, Chinese and foreign experts and scholars, representatives of international organizations and social organizations, and representatives from universities, research institutions, enterprises and financial institutions.
