The 2018 International E-commerce Entrepreneurship and Innovation kicks off in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Dec 11. [Photo/china.com.cn]

The 2018 International E-commerce Entrepreneurship and Innovation finals were held in Hangzhou, an emerging global e-commerce hub in East China's Zhejiang province, on Dec 11.

Aiming to cultivate a flurry of entrepreneurial and innovative talents and advance the industrial development of e-commerce, the competition collected over 2,000 projects from over 10 countries and regions across the world since being initiated in April, including the United States, Malaysia, Mexico, Hong Kong and Macao.

Key covered areas include e-commerce, Internet of Things, logistics, artificial intelligence, information services, intelligent manufacturing and many others in the digital economy.

"Over the years, Zhejiang province has been at the forefront of the digital transformation of the nation and e-commerce is one of the leading industries in the digital economy," said Zhu Congjiu, vice-governor of Zhejiang province, adding that Zhejiang has gradually developed into a global e-commerce center thanks to the sprout of unicorn companies and the solid foundation of the information industry.

According to official statistics, the online retail sales of Zhejiang province reached 1.25 trillion yuan ($181.42 billion) from January to October, a year-on-year increase of 24.4 percent.