On the eve of the XIN Summit (powered by BEYOND), two main pre-summit packages — XIN Summit Media Day and the Entrepreneurs Next Star & Million Prize Global Challenge 2025 Awards Ceremony — set the stage for a landmark gathering of worldwide deep-tech innovators. Held on November 14, these flagship occasions constructed robust early momentum for the Summit and delivered its first defining spotlight: a celebration of world-class entrepreneurship and breakthrough innovation rising from Shenzhen Nanshan.
Image: XIN Summit, powered by BEYOND, was held at Shenzhen Nansha from November 15-16, 2025
As considered one of China’s most influential innovation and entrepreneurship packages, the “Next Star” Global Challenge has turn into a signature platform rooted in Nanshan, linked nationwide, and radiating globally. This yr, greater than 2,600 tasks participated throughout sectors together with synthetic intelligence, biomedicine, new supplies, and superior tools manufacturing. After a rigorous world choice course of, 56 standout groups superior to the Global Finals, reaffirming Nanshan’s place as a world magnet for science and expertise expertise and a driver of future trade growth.
When evening fell, the environment reached its peak with a dynamic Welcome Party and Awards Ceremony. While Media Day emphasised professional trade and world communication, the night program adopted an open, artistic, and celebratory format — showcasing a fusion of expertise, tradition, and world innovation.
Highlights of the Awards Ceremony
The ceremony opened with an AI-driven style showcase that blended algorithmic creativity with inventive expression, demonstrating the more and more porous boundaries between design, expertise, and digital tradition. The program continued with an unconventional twist as a humorist hosted the evening, weaving light-hearted reflections on expertise and entrepreneurship into a night that balanced ceremony with humor and inspiration.
Throughout the occasion, excellent startup groups from China and round the world took heart stage. Finalists from Europe, North America, the Asia-Pacific area, and throughout China had been honored throughout a number of tracks, culminating in first, second, and third prizes in each the Team and Enterprise tracks. Their achievements replicate Shenzhen Nanshan’s evolution into a world vacation spot for startup acceleration and commercialization, strengthening its status as a number one deep-tech hub.
Awards had been introduced by distinguished friends from fields such as superior engineering, micro-reaction science, world skilled networks, and enterprise funding. Their participation underscored the competitors’s affect and its function in accelerating promising scientific and technological breakthroughs towards real-world utility.
Image: AI Fashion Show by LookAI at XIN Summit Welcome Party
Fund at First Pitch: Innovation Happens in Real Time
A particular spotlight of the night was the “Fund at First Pitch” rapid-fire pitching session. In this high-intensity phase, founders had been challenged to articulate the core worth of their expertise inside moments, receiving on-the-spot evaluations from a panel of specialists spanning scientific analysis, funding, and world trade insights. The fast, candid suggestions mirrored the tempo of real-world innovation and gave entrepreneurs a chance to refine their positioning in entrance of seasoned evaluators.
The session was supported by key funding companions, additional reinforcing the competitors’s mission to drive tangible outcomes for startups by connecting them with capital, mentorship, and industrial assets. Following the pitches, the night transitioned into improvisational performances and open networking, the place contributors engaged in cross-disciplinary trade — increasing conversations from technical roadmaps to artistic expression, trade tradition, and long-term collaboration.
Image: Fund-at-First-Pitch rapid-fire pitching session at XIN Summit Welcome Party
The two-day Summit will carry collectively world entrepreneurs, traders, and expertise leaders for high-level boards, an innovation exhibition, and curated funding matchmaking packages. As a brand new sub-brand created by BEYOND Expo, the XIN Summit goals to redefine the panorama of deep-tech collaboration in China. Anchored in the industrial power of the Greater Bay Area, the Summit serves as a gateway connecting Chinese innovation with world assets—accelerating breakthrough functions throughout clever methods, good {hardware}, and next-generation technological infrastructure.
Additional info, together with keynote audio system and the full agenda, may be discovered on the official web site: www.xinsummit.com