The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced the winners of the HKUST 2011 Entrepreneurship Competition. Wah Kin Holdings Ltd, with its hair-testing technology, clinched the championship, while LEDoS, Allegro IQ and iFlight Technology won the first, second and third runner-up trophies. The total awards offered by this Competition amounted to HK$1 million.
Prof Ali Beba, Chair of the Competition, who is also Associate Director of the HKUST Business School's Center for Asian Family Business and Entrepreneurship Studies, MBA Program Consultant and Adjunct Professor in Management, said, "As many as 124 teams took part in this Competition, with team members from the Schools of Science, Engineering and Business. This exemplifies the spirit of "1-HKUST", with synergy achieved through bringing together the talents from different disciplines. We are immensely impressed by the quality of all the 11 participating teams in the final round. Some of them have formed companies with a running business. Through taking part in this Competition, they further develop their business and foster the spirit of entrepreneurship."
Prof Pascale Fung of HKUST's Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Associate Chair of the Competition, added, "HKUST has always encouraged entrepreneurship as part of our mission, and we are committed to promoting social and economic development. The School of Engineering has always emphasized technology transfer and commercialization. The Mainland market is huge, and I am pleased that a lot of the participating teams take this market very seriously."
Dr Rocky Law, Center Director of the Entrepreneurship Center at HKUST and Associate Chair of the Competition, said, "Our Center aims to enhance the entrepreneurial spirit at our University by connecting different areas of the university through building a network among students, alumni, staff and faculty, and providing one-stop support for the competing teams to start up new businesses."
"In the long term we want to create an entrepreneurship ecosystem within the HKUST community for our faculty, staff, alumni and students. This ecosystem will make it easier for them to form start-up companies by themselves in conjunction with other players like law and accounting firms, investors and suppliers."
Over the years, the HKUST Entrepreneurship Center has nurtured 46 start-up companies.
The champion in the Competition, Wah Kin Holdings Ltd, offers a hair-testing technology that provides related organizations, such as community centers, schools, government institutions and clinics, with reports on people's health status in a fast and accurate manner, in terms of the amount of chemical residues, such as heavy metals, drugs or melamine in the body.
The first runner-up, LEDoS, provides a breakthrough display technology based on proprietary micro-projection devices. It supplies, at low cost, both customizable hardware and software for a wide range of powerful digital display applications ranging from digital signage and pico-projectors to traffic signs.
The second runner-up, Allegro IQ, aims to make music education more effective and comprehensive by using innovative technologies to provide students, teachers and parents with a more rewarding and motivating music learning experience.
Allegro IQ also won the Elevator Pitch Award for the best 90-second pitch and best performance in the 3-minute questions and answers session. The company won the Trade Show Award as well.
The third-runner up, iFlight Technology, is one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers in helicopter autopilot systems, and is dedicated to the continued advancement of the technology for commercial and industrial use.
Meanwhile, the Student Award went to Bull B Tech, a company that streamlines the business-to-customer process by refining humanized applications and integrated business intelligence services. It has wide applications in the retail industry.
Out of the initial 124 teams taking part in the Competition, 11 made it to the final round. Each team made a 15-minute presentation on their project, followed by 12 minutes of questions and answers with the judges. Based on this, the four top teams were selected.
The Competition is supported by a number of sponsors, including Morningside Group, IDG Venture Capital, and Northern Light Venture Capital.
More information about the HKUST 2011 Entrepreneurship Competition is available through the following link:http://onemilliondollar.ust.hk/.
For media enquiries, please feel free to contact :
Ross Lai
Tel: 2358 6306 / 9103 2928
Email: rosslai@ust.hk
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Tel: 2358 6313
Email: kityip@ust.hk
