About Kering

A global Luxury group, Kering manages the development of a series of renowned Houses in Fashion, Leather Goods, Jewelry and Watches: Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo, Qeelin, Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux, as well as Kering Eyewear. By placing creativity at the heart of its strategy, Kering enables its Houses to set new limits in terms of their creative expression while crafting tomorrow’s Luxury in a sustainable and responsible way. We capture these beliefs in our signature: “Empowering Imagination”. In 2020, Kering had over 38,000 employees and revenue of €13.1 billion.

About Plug and Play

The former entity of Plug and Play was founded at No. 165 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA in 1998. We have successfully invested and incubated a number of Internet giants including Google, PayPal, and Dropbox. Plug and Play was formally established in Silicon Valley in 2006. Now we have co-working spaces and regional offices in more than 28 countries and regions worldwide. We have invested in nearly 1,000 startups and provided innovation services for over 300 Fortune 500 Companies.
Founded in 2015, Plug and Play China currently has four innovation centers in Beijing (headquarter), Shanghai, Chongqing, and Shenzhen. There are five main business sectors across our platform including investment, corporate innovation, startup incubation and acceleration, cross-border innovation, and co-working space. We have formed China's leading innovation ecosystem online and offline, and
created a multi-dimensional open innovation platform including university, government, venture capital, innovation research lab, and city innovation partner.

About China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) was co-founded by the Chinese government and European Union (EU) in 1994, with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the EFMD serving as its executive partners. CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Accra in Ghana, and Zurich in Switzerland. As China’s only business school to originate from government-level collaboration, CEIBS is committed to educating responsible leaders versed in “China Depth, Global Breadth” in line with its motto of “Conscientiousness, Innovation and Excellence”. Leaders from the Chinese central government and the EU, respectively, have lauded CEIBS as “a cradle of excellent executives” and “a role model of EU-China co- operation”. Over the past quarter century, as the Chinese economy has gained more global influence, CEIBS has evolved from introducing and interpreting classic management theory from the west, to shaping and disseminating Chinese management expertise in an era of globalization. It has grown into not only a leading business school in Asia, but also an important platform for economic and cultural exchange between China, the EU, and the world.

How does it work?

We are looking for seeking early-stage innovations in the areas of ensuring clean water, building healthy soil, supporting wildlife and animal welfare, as well as empowering people with knowledge of links between fashion and nature. Candidates should be incorporated in the Greater China area or who have at least one key team member in the region.

The jury consists of leading industry figures in the fields of fashion, luxury, entrepreneurship, academia, sustainability and innovation, in addition to an advisory board comprising leaders in business and sustainability. With the help of the advisory board, the jury will determine finalists against five criteria: innovation, relevance to fashion, impact, maturity and cost-efficiency.

Finalists will be invited to attend an Accelerator Workshop, co-organized by CEIBS and Kering for entrepreneurship capability training. The finalists will also attend a Pitch Day hosted by Plug and Play to present in front of the jury members. There will be three winning start-ups.

Join now!