HKU ICB
InnoValley
2024 HKU International Techno-Entrepreneurship Challenge
Introduction
2024 HKU International Techno-Entrepreneurship Challenge is jointly organised by HKU Institute for China Business and HKU Techno-Entrepreneurship Core, with the support of Intellectual Property Department, The HKSAR Government, InvestHK, The HKSAR Government, HKU Technology Transfer Office, HKU iDendron, Asia Innovation and Intellectual Property Society, Qiming Venture Partners, China Unicom Global Limited, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, and Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited.
The purpose of this competition is to promote technological innovation and industrial development, strengthen international scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation, and accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. This competition not only focuses on the display and exchange of technological innovation, but also focuses on stimulating the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
The competition will invite leading technology experts, well-known investors and investment institutions, and industry leaders from around the world to form a judging panel to conduct rigorous evaluation and guidance for participating teams, providing rich resources and support for outstanding projects.
The 2024 HKU International Techno-Entrepreneurship Challenge will be divided into a start-up group and a growth group. Six competition areas will be set up at home and abroad, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hong Kong (including Overseas). The competition is divided into four parts: online registration, empowerment, preliminary competition, and finals. The finals will be scheduled on January 11, 2025, at the University of Hong Kong.
The Organisers
（in no Particular Order）
Organisers:
- HKU Institute for China Business
- HKU Techno-Entrepreneurship Core
Partners:
- Intellectual Property Department, The HKSAR Government
- InvestHK, The HKSAR Government
- China Unicom Global Limited
- Qiming Venture Partners
- Asia Innovation and Intellectual Property Society
- Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
- Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited
- HKU Technology Transfer Office
- HKU iDendron
Mission Statement
Highlights of the Challenge
- International Perspective: The 2024 HKU International Techno-Entrepreneurship Challenge will not only have strong support from domestic and overseas institutions, but also attract outstanding science and technology innovation projects from all over the world, providing an international platform for participants to showcase and exchange.
- Strong Panel of Judges: The judges of this year's competition are all renowned experts from academia, industry, and investment sectors. They have rich experience and profound professional knowledge and can provide valuable feedback and suggestions for participating projects.
- Abundant Reward Resources: This competition not only awards the winners with relevant honorary certificates from the University of Hong Kong, but also provides generous reward resources, including entrepreneurial support and media coverage.
- In-depth Industry Connection: This competition is not only a competition, but also a platform for industry connection. Through the competition, participants can establish connections with upstream and downstream enterprises, investment institutions, government departments, etc. in the industry chain, and promote the industrialisation and commercialisation of projects.
- Extensive Media Exposure: This competition will provide extensive media exposure opportunities for participating teams, enhance the visibility and influence of participating projects, and bring more attention and support to participants.
Promotional Videos
Judges of the Grand Finale (updating)
【Triple Helix Sector : Government】
Director of Intellectual Property, HKSAR Government
Prof Herbert Chia, JP
Adjunct Associate Professor at HKU ICB
Board of Directors of HKEX
Former Venture Partner of Sequoia Capital China and BoD of HKSTP
Ex-Vice President of Alibaba Group
Dr George Lam, BBS, JP
Member of HKSAR Green Technology and Finance Development Committee
Chair, United Nations ESCAP Sustainable Business Network
Dr Samson Tam, JP
Chairman of Group Sense Limited
Partner of Hong Kong INNO Angel Fund / Director of The Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
Former Legislative Council Member (Information Technology)
【Triple Helix Sector : University】
Prof Stephanie Kwai Yee Ma
Associate Vice President (Research & Innovation), HKU
HKSTP Board of Director
Prof Reynold C.K. Cheng
Division Head (Computer Science), School of Computing and Data Science, HKU
AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar 2024, 2023
HKU Professor of Architecture Faculty
Founder & CEO of Llewellyn & Partners Co. Ltd.（LPC）
Dr Alfred Tan
Deputy Director of the Technology Transfer Office at The University of Hong Kong
【Triple Helix Sector : Industry】
Ms Tina Tao
President and Partner of Sinovation Ventures
Sinovation Ventures Investment Committee Member
MBA, Yale University
Dr Albert Chan
Founder of Asia Innovation and Intellectual Property Society
Doctor of Laws from Columbia University
Dr Tim Pan
Former Senior Director of Microsoft Research Asia
PhD in Electrical Engineering of Washington University
Mr Sam Wu
Vice President, Entreprise Business Department of China Unicom Global Limited
Dr Richard Ji
Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of All-Stars Investment
Former Managing Director at Morgan Stanley
Doctor of Sciences, Harvard University
Mr Bing Wan
Senior Vice President & Head of Strategy & Business Development, Siemens Ltd., China
Mr Eric Bu
Managing Director of Zhongjing (China Hong Kong) Asset Management Limited
Top Ten Outstanding Young People in Hong Kong in 2015
Application Period (Extended Deadline)
Application starts from the announcement and ends at 16:00 on June 21, 2024 (HK Time/GMT+8)
Divisions and Eligibilities
This competition is divided into start-up and growth divisions. Among them, the start-up division aims to cultivate the creativity and enterprising spirit of the entrepreneurial group, and the growth division aims to discover future unicorns. This year's competition mainly covers seven major fields, aiming at the frontier and key industries of science and technology: Green and Sustainable Energy, Health and Medical Technologies, Industry 4.0 (e.g., infrastructure including IT and high-speed Internet; manufacturing technologies; development of advanced equipment), Smart Cities, Food Security and Nutrition, Use of IT in Education, Community Engagement for Governance and Law
Start-up Division
Start-up Division
- Entrants should have been established on or after March 1, 2022, and the registration period must not exceed two years. They are limited to receiving only one round of equity investment from institutions or individuals (including seed or angel investment).
- There must be at least two core team members.
- Applicants must be students, faculty, staff, or alumni of The University of Hong Kong, or recommended by the individuals above.
- Projects must comply with current laws, focus on business model innovation or technological innovation, and possess uncontested proprietary intellectual property rights or key technologies related to the product or technology. They should also exhibit innovation, uniqueness, and potential for commercial development.
- Projects from teams that have participated in the previous University of Hong Kong’s innovation and entrepreneurship competitions are not allowed to re-enter in the current year. The Organiser has the right to disqualify their right to compete in case of the said violation.
- Winners of the top three places from any region's competition in previous years are not eligible to participate in the current competition.
Growth Division
- Entrants must have completed business registration and other related registrations before 1 March 2022, have been in operation for more than Two years, and have completed at least one angel investment round or higher, with cumulative funding not exceeding RMB 50 million.
- Participating companies must have at least 10 employees.
- Applicants must be students, faculty, staff, or alumni of The University of Hong Kong, or recommended by the individuals above.
- Projects must comply with applicable laws and regulations, with a focus on business model innovation and technological innovation. Projects should have undisputed product or technology intellectual property rights or key technologies and demonstrate market size potential, strategic positioning, and capacity for sustainable development.
- Projects from teams that have previously participated in the University of Hong Kong’s innovation and entrepreneurship competition are prohibited from re-entering this year's contest. Should there be any violation, the Organiser will revoke their eligibility to compete.
- Winners of the top three places from any region's competition in previous years are not eligible to participate in the competition.
Language
Chinese or English
Competition Process
The competition is divided into four stages: online registration, empowerment, preliminary competition, and finals. The overall arrangement of the competition is as follows:
1. Online Application
(1) Time: Application starts from the announcement and ends at 16:00 on June 21, 2024 (HK time) (Extended deadline).
(2) How to Apply: Scanning code to apply (Link Above)
(3) Review of Qualification and Information: After the application deadline, the competition organising committee will organise the judges to conduct qualification review and confirmation for the applied projects.
(4) Preliminary Selection: The organising committee of each region will organise the preliminary evaluation of the projects and determine the list of projects that will advance to the preliminary round based on the preliminary evaluation results.
(5) Application materials:
[Start-up Division]: Application form; copy of the project leader's ID card/passport, copy of the highest academic degree certificates; roadshow presentation PPT; other relevant materials (if necessary).
[Growth Division]: Application form; copy of the project leader's ID card/passport, copy of the highest degree certificates; business plan, roadshow presentation PPT; other relevant materials (if necessary).
2. Empowerment
- Techno-Entrepreneurship Theme Workshop + Celebrity Sharing: Successful entrepreneurs, investors, industry experts, etc. are invited to share their experiences, and comprehensively share the problems encountered in the development process of techno-entrepreneurship enterprises, focusing on technology, industry, business model, market, presentation skills, etc. For more information, please visit the official website and official WeChat.
- Knowledge Transfer Forum: Through the rich academic resources of the University of Hong Kong, we will accelerate the intensity and speed of knowledge transfer of HKU Knowledge Transfer, promote the transformation and implementation of knowledge innovation capabilities into products and services, and inject vitality into enterprises and the innovation economy.
- Exclusive Pre-competition Consulting: help participants find out the problems existing in the project and provide optimization suggestions to help participants improve the quality and competitiveness of their projects.
- Entrepreneurial Pioneer Talk: Entrepreneurial celebrities appeared to speak throughout the competition.
3. Preliminary Competition
- Time: July 2024
- Venues: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hong Kong (including Overseas)
- The preliminary rules: Offline participation, with on-site roadshows and oral defense required for participating projects. The competition organising committee will select winners for the finals based on the number of applications and the regional competition performance.
4. Grand Finale
- Time: January 11, 2025
- Location: The University of Hong Kong
- Rules: Offline participation, on-site roadshow and oral defense are required for participating projects. The organising committee of the competition invites industry experts, well-known entrepreneurs, venture capital institutions and other professionals to participate in the evaluation and determines the list of award-winning projects based on the final scores of the projects. The start-up division and growth division of the finals will award the champion, first runner-up and second runner-up prizes respectively. An award ceremony will be held after the finals.
Special Notice
- The information and materials filled in and submitted by the participants in the process of participating in the competition should be true, legal, complete, and valid, and if there is plagiarism, misappropriation or fraud, the participants shall bear all the responsibilities and consequences caused thereby.
- At any time, if the Organising Committee determines or finds that the participant/project does not meet the entry conditions, it has the right not to approve or reject the participant's application, or cancel the participant's/project's qualification/prize presentation.
- The Organising Committee of the competition does not charge any fees to the participants, nor does it allow any institution or individual to collect any fees in the name of the competition.
- The organiser and organiser of the competition may use the information of the participants and the basic information of the participating projects within a reasonable scope, and the relevant information can be used for reporting, display, publicity, and other activities related to the competition.
- Participants should participate in this competition on a voluntary basis, and if they have any objections to the competition, they can contact the organising committee of the competition, or choose to withdraw from the competition, but they have no right to claim compensation from the organising committee for any expenses incurred due to the competition.
- Participants are prohibited from making any political, violent, discriminatory, illegal, infringing, hateful, sexually suggestive statements, comments, or any information materials through the competition, or making any statements, comments, or any information materials that demean, defame, or harm the reputation of any sponsors or partners of the competition or the event.
- Due to force majeure, the organising committee has the right to adjust the competition schedule and competition format at its discretion.
- The Organising Committee has the final right to interpret the relevant rules of the competition.
News
- Announcement of Finalists Advancing to the Grand Finale of the HKU International Techno-Entrepreneurship Challenge (HK & Overseas Region) (2 Aug, 2024)
- Join the 2024 HKU International Techno-Entrepreneurship Challenge! Together, we will win the future through science and technology. (HKU Linkedin Page, 18 May 2024)
- 2023 HKU Innovation & Entrepreneurship Challenge results announced (17 Dec 2023)
- “19强”巅峰对决，2023年香港大学全国创新创业大赛总决赛荣耀收官！(2023年12月16日)
- The University of Hong Kong (HKU) will host the grand finale of the 2023 HKU Innovation & Entrepreneurship Challenge on December 16 (Saturday) (13 Dec 2023)