For the first time, Alibaba.com is organising the European version of its CoCreate event, already tried and tested in the US, with the aim of providing support and visibility to start-ups. This first edition was hosted by the city of London, but nothing rules out, says Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com (pictured), to Startupbusiness, that “future editions could be held in other countries, particularly Germany and Italy, which are very important markets for us.”
The event is a cross between a pitch competition and a product fair hosted by companies that have their virtual stores on the platform but, in this case, have set up physical stands. an event that attracts the attention of buyers, the media and also the world of influencers, dozens of whom were present from various countries, demonstrating how the event attracts all kinds of media attention. Although Alibaba.com is a B2B platform, it is also becoming increasingly important through osmosis and integration, the B2C side is also important, particularly social commerce, which is emerging as a new phenomenon. During the event, a panel discussion was dedicated to this topic, with Tim van del Wiel, co-founder of Getspooky, and Vincenzo Toscano, founder and CEO of Ecomcy, moderated by Kelsey Cheng, company news chief at Caixin Global.
The section dedicated to start-ups is fundamental. This edition saw 30 finalists, selected from thousands of European SME start-ups, present their projects in 90 seconds before a prestigious jury and compete to be named the inventor of Europe’s most innovative product.
Fifteen-year-old Harrison Nott from England was named the overall winner of the CoCreate Pitch for his innovative idea. In recognition of his project, Harrison received a prize package worth £140,000 that will help him develop and mass-produce his product, CoolTowel, an innovative towel that instantly becomes cold and is suitable for athletes, activities in particularly hot climates, and any situation involving physical activity.
In addition to the overall winner, 10 finalists received special mentions and prizes worth £14,000 each for their innovations, including: Nutri Troops, Intotum and HUID from the United Kingdom; Azza Fencing, Opack and Portalo from France; Trainom, Razeco and Garados Swimwear from Germany, and Reeflex from Italy (note: the total prize money for CoCreate Pitch comprises 50% non-dilutive prizes and 50% credits and support). Reeflex is based in Latina and specialises in mobile photography solutions. Founded in 2020, it develops professional lenses for smartphones and photography apps, combining hardware and software in a single creative ecosystem, and is already present in several European markets. Among the Italian SMEs competing in the first Alibaba.com event in Europe, there was a clear focus on renewable energy, greater than in many other European countries, demonstrating the importance Italy attaches to green energy.
With the conclusion of CoCreate Pitch Europe, which received over 14,000 applications, and CoCreate Pitch Las Vegas, Alibaba.com awarded a total prize pool of $1 million to innovative companies on both sides of the Atlantic. The two events, which involved over 5,500 companies, underscore Alibaba.com’s commitment to supporting SMEs, promoting the use of artificial intelligence in sourcing, and creating new growth opportunities.
Kuo Zhang adds: “Europe is fundamental for us, it is our priority and we intend to invest more and more resources here and also create new job opportunities both for companies that work with us and for us directly, including by hiring technical staff, because the use of artificial intelligence does not limit our ability and need to hire people with the right skills to make our product better and better, and artificial intelligence is no longer an additional tool for Alibaba.com, but is becoming the operating system of our platform.
Zhang emphasises the theme of AI because the London event, which took place in the shadow of the O2 on the Greenwich peninsula, was also an opportunity to launch ‘AI Mode’, a new feature that integrates agentic artificial intelligence capabilities directly into the user experience. The launch marks a new direction for global commerce based on artificial intelligence and represents the platform’s evolution towards an e-commerce model supported by agentic artificial intelligence. The announcement comes at a time of strong momentum for the platform: the number of European orders has increased by 57% compared to the previous year, while the number of active suppliers worldwide has grown by 50% compared to the same period last year. These results reflect the growing confidence of small and medium-sized enterprises in foreign trade and pave the way for Alibaba.com’s next strategic phase: integrating artificial intelligence at the heart of the global trading experience. AI Mode, which will be available from December, offers a new way for companies to identify, evaluate and interact with suppliers in a £30 trillion B2B market.
With nearly 90% of B2B buyers now using artificial intelligence tools for sourcing and evaluation (source: Forrester cited in a company note), and with AI used in over half of all online searches (source: McKinsey), the demand for intelligent, accurate and useful information has reached a tipping point.
Following last September’s announcement, in which the company introduced a more in-depth search function (deep search) based on advanced linguistic models that complement traditional keyword searches, Alibaba.com is now taking a further step with AI Mode, integrating agentic artificial intelligence capabilities directly into the user experience.
Once activated, AI Mode will interpret requests in natural language, analyse technical specifications and automatically compare suppliers based on price, logistics, certifications and production capacity, providing personalised recommendations in seconds. Thanks to deep integration with existing Alibaba.com services, such as secure payments, trade assurance and after-sales support, AI Mode aims to offer a fully automated, end-to-end trading experience.
AI Mode is powered by Accio, the world’s first AI-powered B2B search engine, launched in 2024 and now significantly improved. Thanks to its advanced level of multimodal understanding, Accio is able to extract meaning from unstructured inputs, such as product sketches, engineering designs, documents, certificates, production processes and activity history, and match them to relevant production capabilities. This capability unlocks what Alibaba.com calls ‘the hidden shelf of products’, i.e. the vast network of custom and specialised regional suppliers, often high-potential companies, whose expertise remains invisible in traditional keyword-based search models. By bringing these suppliers to light, AI Mode can help companies improve product innovation and supply chain resilience.
The increase in European orders reflects a broader shift in the region’s business landscape. According to research conducted by Censuswide for Alibaba.com, 90% of European SMEs now consider product innovation to be fundamental to their growth strategy, while 62% say they are confident in using artificial intelligence tools to drive innovation in design, sourcing and manufacturing.
Due to stricter sustainability regulations, new supply chain diversification requirements and increased competition, European companies are turning to smarter, faster and more transparent sourcing solutions. AI Mode is designed precisely for this context, helping buyers navigate compliance, identify sustainable partners and bring customised products to market faster, all without changing their internal teams.
CoCreate Europe celebrates the best in product innovation from SMEs and start-ups across Europe. It is inspiring to experience first-hand the level of fresh thinking, creativity and innovative solutions in our heated CoCreate Pitch competition, and we have a unique winner in Harrison Nott and CoolTowel. At Alibaba.com, we are committed to helping start-ups and SMEs realise their growth ambitions by democratising artificial intelligence tools and digital sourcing. We look forward to continuing to provide this support for many years to come,” concludes Zhang, quoting from a statement released by the company.
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