Shanghai launched its fourth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition on Friday, aiming to stimulate innovation while promoting cross-sector growth of emerging cultural formats and advancing the integrated development of culture, commerce, tourism and exhibitions.

Since its launch in 2023, the competition has attracted more than 3,200 participating companies, with this year's competition featuring upgrades aligned with emerging business models and industry trends, building a multi-domain innovation ecosystem.

The 2026 event introduces 10 specialized tracks centered around key industrial strengths of the city's districts, ensuring alignment between competition categories and regional advantages.

These tracks span the creative industry spectrum, covering areas such as original IP operations, creative empowerment for fashion consumer goods, music innovation, internet content creation, game development, film and television creation, digital culture going global, digital advertising, cultural performance, and AI integration with digital creative industries.

To support participants, the competition has established a comprehensive resource platform offering 10 specialized empowerment services, providing full-chain, normalized support throughout their development journey.

Award-winning enterprises will enjoy exclusive benefits including policy support, talent subsidies, incubation assistance and achievement showcases.

After registration, stages include online preliminary evaluation, semifinals and finals, with an awards ceremony to be held later this year.