新闻及香港科大故事

由香港科技大学（科大）学生、校友和员工组成的三个团队，在逾100个参赛队伍中脱颖而出，赢得科大-信和百万奖金创业大赛2019香港区赛事三甲。他们将于今年九月在广州南沙，与其余六个赛区的胜出者进行总决赛。今年已踏入第九届的百万奖金创业大赛，共吸引了117个队伍参赛，数目较去年增加逾百分之十五，深受科大及小区成员欢迎。为进一步推动多元化，比赛去年引入网上配对平台，让参加者与来自香港及其他地区、有兴趣参与赛事的人士及公司组队，促进不同背景的人士交流。在今年的比赛中，百分之十五的参赛队伍正是利用网上配对平台，成功觅得志同道合的队友。今年进入总决赛的六支队伍，更将首次获邀参与由香港科学园举办的科技企业家计划（STEP）。这个为期一年的计划旨在培育有志于科技发展的创业人才，开展初创企业，助他们落实创意概念。香港区赛事的最高殊荣「校长奖」，由科大与厦门大学的校友及研究生所组成的公司「Horizon Biochip」夺得。他们研发的Cryochip，可以把冷冻胚胎的过程自动及标准化。冷冻胚胎是体外人工受孕一个关键的步骤，目的是将胚胎冷冻保存起来，以备日后使用。新技术能消除技术人员操作时出现的误差，减少发生人为错误的机会，有效提高冷冻胚胎的成功率。团队更荣获创新奖及健康医疗奖。「道创智能科技控股有限公司」则凭借应用于农业的光谱传感器，赢得金奖及机器人与人工智能奖。该传感器能够在不破坏水果的情况下，根据水果的甜度与成熟程度进行分类，从而统一质量并提升生产力。另外，银奖得主「康怡科技有限公司」所开发的诊断方法，则可以在30分钟内，快速检测唾液、鼻液或血液样本是否含有近100种感染性病源体，包括肺结核、麻疹、流感、非洲猪瘟及其他传染病等，不但较需时几小时甚或几天的传统检验方法更便捷，有效提升诊治效率，亦较传统方法便宜。信和集团创新联席董事杨孟璋先生表示：「信和集团深明创科的重要，全力支持创新科技，建立全面的创科生态系统，支持香港发展成为国际创新科技中心。今年是第二年支持这项比赛，非常高兴为科大的学生和校友提供多元化的学习经验，为创业做好准备。我们衷心恭贺和祝愿三支获胜队伍，并期待他们把创业概念转化成真正的产品和服务。」

Have you ever struggled to catch a minibus to or from campus? It’s why a new “Finding Mini” app has been developed by HKUST alumni Jason Yuen, Simon Tsang, and current student Gash Tsui. “We deploy GPS module on each minibus, and sophisticated data algorithms developed by ourselves, with factors including weather, fluctuations of traffic, and real-time traffic conditions,” says Simon. While KMB buses already had an app for arrival times, the green minibuses did not. “We were very frustrated by this situation, because we could not compare arrival times between the double decker and minibus arrival times in Choi Hung, and the stops are on different ends of the street,” says Jason.

香港科技大学(科大)今年第八届的百万元创业大赛，将再多两个内地城市举办，令这项区域性赛事的规模，扩展至涵盖大中华区内七个城市。而科大亦将于本港的比赛中加入新元素，以提升参加者的比赛体验，促进多元化并加强公众参与度。 科大于香港站的赛事，今年获得信和集团的慷慨支持，易名为「香港科技大学—信和百万元创业大赛2018」。科大创业大赛由最初一个推动校内创业文化的平台，逐渐发展成一项地区性赛事，于二零一六年首度扩展至北京、广州、深圳及澳门举行，今年再拓展至佛山及中山，覆盖大湾区11个地区中的6个地区，不但进一步加强科大与大湾区城市的联系与合作，更有助促进大中华区不同创业家之间的交流，刺激创意思维，互相学习进步。 本地赛事中，今年获甄选得以参与「电梯简报」环节的参赛队伍，将达24支，较去年增加一倍。这环节模拟创业者于现实生活中经常遇到的情节，在升降机中遇到潜在投资者，并只得约90秒﹕即约一程升降机的时间，介绍其创业计划，属既紧张又刺激的体验。 为促进公众参与，科大更首次推出网上公开投票环节，24支队伍于「电梯简报」环节中的表现，将被放到网上，予大众投票选出表现最佳的队伍。公众投票结果于「电梯简报奖」的评审中将占百分之十的分数。 此外，科大亦将成立网上配对平台，协助参赛团队与来自不同地区、有兴趣参与赛事的人士及公司组队。科大创业中心主任陈双幸教授认为，这个平台将推动比赛趋多元化：「学生、旧生、研究人员、学院和职员可以跟本地或来自全球其他大学和企业的人，组成不同的合作团队。我们认为将不同背景的创业者连结在一起，可刺激多角思维，更有效提升创意。」 信和集团将与科大展开为期五年的合作，赞助科大的创业大赛。信和集团副主席黄永光先生对可以支持年轻人追求创业梦想感到高兴：「我们深信培养青年的企业精神，对于他们向上流动及社会繁荣均十分重要。今次计划以新颖的比赛形式为年轻人搭建平台，分享观点及交流创业意念，同时提供一个实践场地，让他们学以致用，胜出队伍更可运用奖金实现梦想。」创新科技的发展促成无限商机，黄永光先生期望参赛者能于创业建议书中，展现创新概念。 赛事设有多个奖项，胜出队伍可利用奖金创立公司，或将其创制的产品或技术商业化。

Frank has had a dream of flying from a young age, and he showed a keen interest in the research and development of unmanned helicopter technology during his time at HKUST. In 2005, he and his team participated in ABU Robocon and won third prize among teams competing from across Asia. In 2006, he completed his final thesis at HKUST, which included the development of a flight control system for unmanned platforms. He then founded DJI based on this system, and became the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of the company. Today, DJI has over 5,000 employees and is the global leader in developing and manufacturing high performance, reliable, and easy-to-use small unmanned aerial systems for commercial and recreational use. Frank has devoted himself to the research and development of the world's premiere unmanned aircraft control and aerial photography and videography systems.

HKUST alums emphasize a strong team always brings better results for all.Long before he found Maxus Tech with his friends, Mark Zeng had HKUST on his radar as he was looking for a graduate program in Hong Kong.“I thought I would meet a lot of people from different backgrounds, and that I would keep in pace with the development of the technologies in Mainland, as HKUST probably had more exposure to technical progresses in Chinese market than say, schools in the US or the UK,” Mark recalls.As a student in HKUST, Mark soon made a lot of friends, but little did he know he would bring them along as partners and find a company together someday. After Mark graduated, he took a job in the banking sector, and it would seem that he was set for life.“We did not really know what we wanted to do when we graduated.” Mark said. “Some of us went into banking and some became software engineers, and some of us went to the media industry.”

Little did Sandra Sobanska know when she left her native Poland in 2014 to join HKUST’s Global Business undergraduate program, that within three years she could be part of a team staging anything quite like Hack Horizon. However this unique international - and airborne – hackathon is only the latest stage in the exciting journey Sobanska says she’s been on since her arrival in Hong Kong. 

Recent news covered Chris Ko from the class of 2017 about her vegetarian tea cafe in Tsim Sha Tsui, and how she made good use of every skill she learnt from HKUST’s EVMT program to realize her dream. “When I chose to apply to the Environmental Management and Technology (EVMT) program, I thought I would be learning about a wide range of environmental issues and their solutions,” said Chris. “But what’s more, I discovered what I wanted to do, and the program helped me achieved my goals.” EVMT offers students a unique opportunity to grasp scientific and technological concepts and translate them into practice-based and sustainable business ideas. The intense, cross disciplinary program only admits 15 students every year, making it one of the most competitive degree programs in Hong Kong. “Many people still think that going ‘green’ loses money,” said Chris.

香港科技大学（科大）于五个城市举办的第七届100万元创业计划，今年共吸引了900多支由学生、初创公司及专业人士等组成的队伍参加，数目较去年增加多于一倍。比赛于去年首度扩展至北京、广州、深圳和澳门。科大创业中心主任陈双幸教授乐见这项赛事从最初培育科大创业家的平台，逐渐发展成推动创业文化的地区性比赛，为大中华地区的年轻创业家提供一个交流创意的平台。陈教授说：「我们所见，除了比赛的规模日增，参赛者所提交的方案质素亦不断上升，市场牵引力益发广阔深入。今年我们所得到业界的支持和赞助，亦属历届之冠。」是次比赛获得业界增加了赞助，今年特别增设两个「广发证券奖」，令亚军及季军队伍的奖金，分别由去年的15万港元和10万港元，增至每队港币20万元。至于「校长特设卓越表现奖」仍维持港币30万元。今年的「校长特设卓越表现奖」得主深圳市广懋创新科技有限公司（Maxus Tech），同时亦赢得「商品展示奖」。Maxus Tech团队发明了一款可以把任何光滑表面如墙壁、桌子或玻璃等，转变为控制接口的设备，用户只需运用简单手势，即可以远距离控制诸如笔记本计算机或平板计算机的电子设备。该团队将会联同「广发证券奖」两个得奖队伍，于8月18日参加在广州南沙科大霍英东研究院举行的总决赛。Maxus Tech的成员包罗万有,包括来自科大、新南威尔士大学、中国科技大学和中山大学的毕业生。获得广发证券奖的两个团队分别为聊天机械人公司Clare.AI和光原创新科技有限公司（LIT）。 Clare.AI开发了一个聊天机械人系统，可帮助银行和金融机构通过聊天机械人来处理客户的简单查询。而LIT发明的一种尖端的五维活细胞图像处理技术，可以长时间拍摄最敏感的细胞样本而不会对细胞造成任何损害。有关更多科大2017年100万元创业计划大赛详情，请参阅：https://ec.hkust.edu.hk/one-million/hk/2017。