In a room set up for entrepreneurs to present their innovations, one PowerPoint grabbed the judges' attention. It showed a desk-mounted robotic arm performing tasks with high accuracy after receiving commands by human voice and gestures.

After being ordered to write the Chinese character for "dragon", the mechanical arm took up a brush and completed the calligraphy in minutes.

That presentation was part of the final road show of the Sino-US Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition co-hosted this month by Shandong University and the Qingdao city government at the Sino-US Technology and Innovation Park in Qingdao, Shandong province. It was designed to introduce innovative projects to Chinese investors.