A Chinese company and an Israeli venture capital firm announced an innovation competition that would award the winning innovative start-up with US$1 million.

The Chinese Shengjing 360 group is conducting the competition with the help of Israeli venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP). The three finalist companies will head to Beijing in August, where the top one will be awarded US$1 million.

“China is becoming a substantial partner,” said Kobi Rozengarten, a managing partner in JVP. “There’s a vast amount of activity, more and more investment bringing more people, looking for innovation in Israel,” he said, explaining how the original connection with the Chinese company came to be.

“The purpose of this project is mainly to encourage investments and expose Israeli startups and give them a global spotlight. China is becoming a vital partner for those companies and the companies want to enter the Chinese market,” he said.

Explaining the Chinese drive to discover and invest in Israeli startup companies, Xueling Cao, Director at Shengjing Technology, said “Israel has quickly become a global hub and model for an innovationdriven culture. The goal of the competition is to identify the most promising startups and open doors for them.”