Tsinghua X-lab (X-lab) is a non-profit university-based educational innovation platform fostering creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Founded in April 2013, X-lab supports startups across all sectors, serving the entire Tsinghua community, including students, alumni, and faculty. Rooted in the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University (Tsinghua SEM), X-lab collaborates with 17 schools and departments, and has developed an effective education system encompassing education, cultivation, and ecosystem construction. Understanding that diversity and complementary skills are key to venture firms, X-lab connects various disciplines across the university, enriching the venture creation process with comprehensive entrepreneurship education.
Tsinghua X-lab offers a 3000-square-meter innovation space at the recently completed Jianhua Building of Tsinghua SEM, as well as a 700-square-meter pre-incubation space at the Tsinghua Science Park. The innovation space is open to all startups and clubs, including Block-Chain Club, Future Robotics Club, AI Club, etc., to cater to the diverse needs of faculty and students. It creates a favorable environment for the development of projects, helping students and faculty to make their significant first step of innovation from 0 to 1. The space is free to use for finding co-founders, meeting partners and mentors, securing financial support, and pitching potential investors. Additionally, over 100 for-credit courses, seminars, salons, workshops, theme-specific roadshows are organized annually in this space. Students are welcome to attend any event that aligns with their interests. To date, over 88,000 participants have been engaged in these activities.
Since its launch in 2013, Tsinghua X-lab has enjoyed exponential growth, working with over 2,600 project teams to date. Having already incorporated over 900 start-ups, we assist these companies from the seed and pre-seed stages through to commercial operations and scale-up, across all sectors and industries. To date, 260 X-lab start-ups have collectively raised over 18 billion RMB.
Programs provided by Tsinghua X-lab include:
Besides offering workspaces, nurturing entrepreneurial talents, and connecting to resources, Tsinghua X-lab also offers a variety of programs:
l Tsinghua X-lab Branded Competitions
Tsinghua X-lab has introduced three branded competitions, each tailored to different stages of development, including Ideation, Innovation and Firm Setup. These include the Great Idea Challenge for Tsinghua freshmen, the Tsinghua SDG Open Hack, and the Tsinghua President’s Cup.
“Great Idea” Challenge for Tsinghua freshmen
The Great Idea Challenge, jointly organized by Tsinghua X-lab and the Tsinghua University Youth League Committee, is the first technological innovation competition for freshmen upon their campus arrival. This competition nurtures students' creativity, aiming to foster personal development and societal progress through innovation. The competition has successfully seen five editions, with more than 500 teams and over 1,500 students participating.
Tsinghua SDG Open Hack
As the first university innovation challenge incorporated with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Tsinghua SDG Open Hack is conducted in the form of a hackathon challenge and is complemented with courses and workshops on innovation and entrepreneurship. This initiative features a unique combination of competition and courses, fostering cross-disciplines exchange, team working, university-enterprise collaboration, and the integration of science and education. This program is open to participants from both the Tsinghua Campus and around the world. Its primary objective is to improve students' creativity, motivation, global competence, and collaborative skills.
In 2022, the Tsinghua SDG Open Hack introduced corporate-sponsored industry tracks, which received high praise from both the participating corporations and students. For the corporate partners, this initiative provided a platform to discover potential investment opportunities and talented teams, while simultaneously showcasing their commitment to fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through their involvement in tasks proposal, mentoring, and solution evaluation. The program gave students insight into tangible business, industry, and societal challenges. Supported by enterprise-led site visits and mentorship from both academic and corporate advisors, participants were able to rapidly refine their solutions over the course of a few months. This process not only honed their analytical and innovative skills but also enhanced their communication and collaboration abilities. Remarkably, collaborating companies provide students with the unique opportunities to test innovative products, services, and business models within their operations, offering students unique opportunities for making real-world impact.
Over the past five editions, we have achieved gratifying results, drawing over 7,000 student participants who have developed more than 1,000 innovative solutions. We've attracted participation from various industries, including including Fortune 500 companies and rapidly growing domestic enterprises such as Budweiser Brewing Company China, Nestlé, BMW, Boehringer-Ingelheim, SF Express, Micropoint, Genetron Health, Didi, Zhaoyang Doctor, NetDragon, Rong Cloud, Small Design, Wenge Group, and more. The competition has created a significant impact among young students, inspiring a global generation of future entrepreneurs and leaders.
Tsinghua President’s Cup
Professor CHEN Jining, who was the president of Tsinghua University in 2013, graciously gave his consent for the competition to be named the President's Cup – a university wide call for innovative Scale-ups. This marked the competition as the only event across the entirety of Tsinghua University to be named in honor of its president . Tsinghua President’s Cup concentrates on the core position of “Innovating for Entrepreneurial Purpose”.
The Challenge has been successfully held for 11 editions, with over 1,000 entrepreneurial projects and more than 13,000 students in attendance. The top ten teams of each year have collectively raised an impressive capital exceeding 6.5 billion RMB. Numerous projects have experienced significant growth, with some even becoming industry unicorns. For example, Bluepha, the champion of the 2nd edition, currently valued at over 1 billion US dollars, has grown into a unicorn enterprise specializing in marine biodegradable materials based on synthetic biology; Geek+, the global leader in robotic solutions for logistics and also a unicorn enterprise, valuing at over 2 billion US dollars; Imunopharm Technology, champion of the 3rd edition, valuing at over 6 billion RMB since its establishment eight years ago; DeepLang AI, an innovative startup merely three years old, secured a strategic partnership with Tencent in 2023 and has seen 15 fold increase in valuation within only one year. Young entrepreneurs demonstrate extraordinary initiative and creativity with the help of the cultivation and coaching of Tsinghua X-lab.
l AI+ Innovators Elite Camp
This project aims to establish a comprehensive, multi-tiered AI knowledge system, providing students with hands-on opportunities in AI technology. It guides students to deeply integrate with industry applications, fostering adaptable AI professionals and laying a robust foundation for future technological innovation.
l Accelerating program
In December 2023, Tsinghua X-lab and philanthropist Ms. Guo Meiling jointly launched the accelerating program – 'The Future Scientist and Entrepreneur Program'. This program is designed to co-cultivate innovative talents with expertise in academia, technology, and industry. It offers continuous support to students, helping them overcome challenges related to market access, team building, and financing, while providing ongoing support for standout teams.
l Online Courses
In October 2023, the 'Tsinghua SEM Innovation Capability Online Certificate Program' was released, leveraging a decade of top-tier online courses in innovation and entrepreneurship from the Tsinghua School of Economics and Management. This program is supported by the abundant resources and industrial expertise of Tsinghua X-lab and aims to fulfill Tsinghua SEM's social responsibility by making high-quality innovation and entrepreneurship courses available to learners nationwide.
