Press Release
Zug/Erlangen, September 22, 2020

Out of 20 EU finalists 6 D-A-CH start-ups have been selected to present themselves at the ATEC Finals on September 24-25. The aim of A-TEC is to discover and support hidden champions in the fields of science and technology. Among those there is a strong focus on biotech. In order to seek out global cutting-edge technology in the fields of science and technology, the finals of the first "Advanced Engineering and Technology Challenge" (A-TEC) sponsored by the Shenzhen Municipal Government and jointly organized by the Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen and Leaguer Group in China and Convergence Partners and Medical Valley in Europe, will take place on September 24-25. With the challenge comes a prize pool of 24 million yuan (3 million Euro), with the highest prize up to 8 million yuan (1 million Euro).

A-TEC strives to build a platform for the participating teams to connect resources, enhance value, promote growth, and showcase their style. This competition will effectively encourage and support innovation, promote the effective connection of technology, talents, government, industry, and capital, and promote the realization of the goals of discovering, guiding and cultivating batches of high-quality projects. At the same time, through the window of A-TEC, Shenzhen has also demonstrated its image as a pioneer area of inclusiveness, eagerness for talents, encouragement of innovation, and support for entrepreneurship, thus accelerating the convergence of global scientific and technological resources and stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as promoting the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements.

About the event
This contest has been carried out in the form of 2 online road show evaluation events in Germany and the UK, focusing on the extensive exploration of cutting-edge technologies and innovative solutions in fields such as healthcare, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and cyberspace. It aims to explore the application of cutting-edge technology and the integration with different scenarios through "roadshow + communication + match-making".

After the project roadshow, the jury of technology and venture capital experts, based on the project's highlights, prospects, feasibility and other factors evaluated the companies presented carefully and selected the candidates for the Shenzhen finals. Those now have the chance to chase the 800,000 yuan award for each winner.

Startups interested in participating in the next event can get in touch directly with:
Convergence Partners AG
Industriestrasse 47
6300 Zug
Switzerland
Phone +41 44 245 10 55 | Fax +41 41 766 94 99
[email protected]

A-TEC
A-TEC is a global leading contest to focus on the world's most cutting-edge technologies, to guide the most innovative technological innovations and to cultivate projects and teams with the best coverage. The contest is hosted every two years by Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, organized by Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen and Leaguer Group. It focuses on AI, Biotech, Cyberspace and Robotics, with a total of 24 million RMB bonus pool and a series of incentive support services.
https://atec.leaguer.com.cn/

Convergence Partners
Convergence Partners is an international venture capital firm with an investment focus on HealthTech and DeepTech startups in Europe. An extensive network of industrial partners, universities and startup accelerators in China, India and Southeast Asia helps our portfolio companies to realize the significant market potential in Asia. Convergence support their portfolio companies in all aspects of internationalization, from initial market assessment to the establishment of local branches and production facilities. Our `market-first` focus will sustainably accelerate the growth of our portfolio companies.
www.convergence-partners.ch

Medical Valley
The Medical Valley European Metropolitan Region Nuremberg (EMN) Association is an internationally leading healthcare management cluster. Highly specialized research institutions, internationally leading companies as well as many growing companies are active here. They cooperate closely with world-renowned health research institutions to jointly find solutions for the challenges of health care today and tomorrow. This extraordinary concentration of players, combined with the international market and competitive position of individual players, the unique infrastructure, and services, all provide the conditions that allow ideas to be turned into products, processes and services more quickly. The nationally and internationally outstanding position of this economically strong region was additionally strengthened in January 2010 by the appointment of “National Top Cluster” for medical technology by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In April 2017, Medical Valley, in cooperation with the Zollhof Tech Incubator and the Health Hackers, was named one of twelve national "Digital Hubs" by the Federal Ministry of Economics - the only one that focuses exclusively on health. Existing hubs of the urban-rural cluster Medical Valley EMN e. V. are the Medical Valley Center Erlangen, Forchheim, Amberg-Weiden and Bamberg.
www.medical-valley-emn.de