The Service Outsourcing Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition for Chinese College Students has fostered 150,000 talents over the past decade, organizers have said.

The competition's 10th edition concluded this week, with Shanghai Jiaotong University winning first prize, beating 18 other teams from universities including Jiangnan University and Chongqing University.

Organized by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Education, and Wuxi municipal government, the event aims to support the service outsourcing industry and cultivate talent for the sector, which is driven by the business practice of companies hiring other companies to perform different tasks.

Huang Lan, deputy secretary-general of Jiangsu provincial government, said, "Speeding up the service outsourcing industry is an important way to promote industrial transformation and upgrading, and optimize foreign trade structure."

"It can also promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and increase college students' employment prospects."

Huang said the service outsourcing industry is ushering in an important period of rapid development, driven by the science and technology.

Over the last decade, the competition has attracted nearly 400,000 candidates from 1,600 universities and colleges.

Companies that have participated in the competition include Huawei, Alibaba and information technology provider Pactera Technology International.

Pactera has supported the competition for ten consecutive years.

Zhang Dongwei, Pactera senior vice president and CMO, said the competition provides opportunities for students to get to know the market and different business models.

It can help support a more innovative environment and create a talent pool for high technology companies, Zhang said.

Official data has shown that China's service outsourcing industry continues to grow rapidly.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, enterprises' service outsourcing contracts amounted to 1.32 trillion yuan ($191 bilion) last year, a year-on-year increase of 8.6 percent.