A forum aiming to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among young people from both sides of the Taiwan Straits opened in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, July 11.

More than 300 people, including scholars from cross-Straits scientific and technological circles, venture capitalists and entrepreneurial mentors attended the forum and investment project docking.

A cross-Straits innovation and entrepreneurship invitational, which is a derivative activity of the forum, was held from July 8 to 12.

The awards ceremony of the cross-Straits innovation and entrepreneurship invitational. [Photo/fjsen.com]

A total of 258 projects, which was more than five times last year's number, joined in the invitational to compete for prize money totaling 2 million yuan ($290,800). Among them, 79 projects were brought by Taiwan participants.

The first prizes for an enterprise and a team was 200,000 yuan and 150,000 yuan.

According to Kong Shuguang, the head of Xiamen science and technology bureau, the city has 740 youth entrepreneurial teams and more than 1,300 young entrepreneurs from Taiwan, and 56 Taiwan-funded companies have been identified as national high-tech enterprises.

The attendees all agreed that the forum and the invitational offered a platform for promoting exchanges and displaying achievements of people from the both sides of the Straits.

The forum has been held annually since 2016. This year's version was sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the city's science and technology bureau.