Over 900 teams comprising students, startups and professionals participated in the seventh annual One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition organized by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in five cities this year, more than doubled over a year ago.
The Competition was first extended to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Macau last year. Prof Gary Chan, Director of the Entrepreneurship Center, said it is encouraging to see the Competition, originally an initiative to nurture entrepreneurs at HKUST, to have grown into a regional contest that helps cultivate entrepreneurial spirits and promote exchange of ideas across the border. “We have witnessed not only an increase in scale, but also rising quality of the submitted proposals and depth of market traction,” said Prof Chan. We are particularly excited to see a record-high industrial sponsorship to the event this year.”
The increase in industrial support has allowed the cash awards for the first runner-up and second runner-up, which used to worth HK$150,000 and HK$100,000 respectively, to be upgraded to two GF Securities Awards each with a value of HK$200,000. The value of the top President Award remains at HK$300,000.
Maxus Tech, who won both the President Award and the Elevator Pitch Award, developed a device that could turn any smooth surface such as wall, table or glass into a touch-screen control panel. Their invention allows users to control electronic devices such as laptop or tablets from a distance, by simply using hand gestures. The winning teams will further compete with contingents from the other four cities in the Grand Final at the HKUST Fok Ying Tung Research Institute in Nansha, Guangzhou, on 18th August. Members of Maxus Tech came from a diverse background with graduates from HKUST, University of New South Wales, University of Science and Technology of China and Sun Yat-Sen University.
Clare.AI and Light Innovation Technology Ltd (LIT) were the other two teams who won the GF Securities awards. Clare.AI has developed a white-label chatbot which helps banking and financial institutes to handle simple enquiries from their clients through online chat-box communication, while LIT crafted a sophisticated 5-dimensional live cell imaging technology which allows shooting of the most sensitive specimen without causing them any damage for a much longer period.
To learn more about the HKUST 2017 One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition, please visit:
http://onemilliondollar.ust.hk/
About The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (www.ust.hk) is a world-class research university that focuses on science, technology and business as well as humanities and social science. HKUST offers an international campus, and a holistic and interdisciplinary pedagogy to nurture well-rounded graduates with global vision, a strong entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thinking. HKUST attained the highest proportion of internationally excellent research work in the Research Assessment Exercise 2014 of Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee, and is the world’s second in the latest QS’ Top 50 under 50 ranking. Its graduates were ranked 13th worldwide and top in Greater China in Global Employability University Survey 2016.
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